English

befight

Befight comes from Old English befeohtan ‘to take by fighting’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *peḱ- ‘to pluck, ruffle, tousle, shear’.

Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*peḱ-¹‘to pluck, ruffle, tousle, shear’reconstructed
Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*fehtaną²‘to struggle (with), fight’reconstructed
Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*fehtan³‘to fight’reconstructed
Old Englishc. 450–1150feohtan⁴‘to fight’
Old Englishc. 450–1150befeohtan⁵‘to take by fighting’
Middle Englishc. 1150–1500*befighten⁵reconstructed
Englishtodaybefight⁵

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

Lineage

Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*peḱ-1Wiktionary, Proto-Germanic *fehtaną‘to pluck, ruffle, tousle, shear’reconstructed
Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*fehtaną2Wiktionary, Proto-West Germanic *fehtan‘to struggle (with), fight’reconstructed
Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*fehtan3Wiktionary, Old English feohtan‘to fight’reconstructed
Old Englishc. 450–1150feohtan4Wiktionary, Old English befeohtan‘to fight’
Old Englishc. 450–1150befeohtan5Wiktionary, English befight‘to take by fighting’
Middle Englishc. 1150–1500*befighten5Wiktionary, English befightreconstructed
Englishtodaybefight5Wiktionary, English befight

Formed from be- + fight

Proto-Indo-European *h₁epi ‘at, near’

Proto-Indo-European *h₁pi

Proto-Germanic *bi ‘near, by’

Proto-Germanic *bi-

Proto-West Germanic *bi-

English be-

Proto-Indo-European *peḱ- ‘to comb’

Proto-Germanic *fehtaną ‘to comb’

Proto-West Germanic *fehtan ‘to fight’

Old English feohtan ‘to fight’

Middle English fighten ‘to fight’

English fight

verb To deprive of by fighting.

Sources: Wiktionary, “befight”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entries for Proto-Germanic *fehtaną, Proto-West Germanic *fehtan, Old English feohtan, Old English befeohtan. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.