Etymograph

English

infight

Infight may come from Middle English infighten ‘to attack’, from Old English feoht ‘fight, battle’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *peḱ- ‘to pluck, ruffle, tousle, shear’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*peḱ-1‘to pluck, ruffle, tousle, shear’uncertain
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*fehtaną2‘to struggle with’uncertain
  3. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*fehtą2uncertain
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150feoht3‘fight, battle’uncertain
  5. Old Englishc. 450–1150infeoht4as infiht‘an attack made upon a person by another in the same house or between members of a…’uncertain
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500infighten4‘to attack’uncertain
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1929infight4

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Proto-Germanic *fehtaną
  2. 2 Wiktionary, Old English feoht
  3. 3 Wiktionary, Old English infeoht
  4. 4 Wiktionary, English infight
  5. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1929, St. George's Gazette - Volume 47: “"In a minute," said the commodore faintly. "He's so…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*peḱ-Wiktionary, Proto-Germanic *fehtaną‘to pluck, ruffle, tousle, shear’uncertain
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*fehtanąWiktionary, Old English feoht‘to struggle with’uncertain
  3. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*fehtąWiktionary, Old English feohtuncertain
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150feohtWiktionary, Old English infeoht‘fight, battle’uncertain
  5. Old Englishc. 450–1150infeohtWiktionary, English infightas infiht‘an attack made upon a person by another in the same house or between members of a…’uncertain
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500infightenWiktionary, English infight‘to attack’uncertain
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1929infightWiktionary, English infight. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1929, St. George's Gazette - Volume 47: “"In a minute," said the commodore faintly. "He's so…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *peḱ- ‘to pluck, ruffle, tousle, shear’

fellow, fee, peculiar, fax, feud, cynical, hound, fawn, poodle, cynic, feu, pec, pecuniary, fain, chenille, 24 more

through Proto-Germanic *fehtaną ‘to struggle with’

fighting, fighter, 3 more

Today it means

verb To fight with allies or other members of the same group.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “infight”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entries for Proto-Germanic *fehtaną, Old English feoht, Old English infeoht. 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.

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *peḱ- / infight

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