defender

/dɪˈfendə/dih-FEN-dur

UK form converted from the US by rule · unchecked

/dɪˈfɛndɚ/dih-FEN-dur

Meaningone who defends

Common meaning: a protector

Other meanings: a defensive player

Tap a word part to explore

dedown, away, off; undoing
fendto strike, ward offLewis & Short, Latin Dictionary (1879), p. 528 · scan
eragent ending: one who

‘down, away, off’ + ‘to strike, ward off’ → defender

Journey through time

Proto-Indo-European*dhan-‘strike’source
Latin-fendō, -fēnsum‘to strike, ward off’
Old Frenchdefendresource
Middle Englishdefendensource
Englishdefend‘to guard against attack’
Englishformed in English from defenddefender‘a protector’ · today

Sources & notes

Meaning: “Meaning” is the sense that emerges from the word’s roots; “Common meaning” is today’s everyday sense. Both written by us.

Pronunciation

UK IPA: converted from the US form by rule (unchecked). Respelling: generated.
No UK recording; the speaker uses your device’s en-GB voice.
US IPA: CMUdict (BSD-2), converted to IPA by rule. Respelling: generated.
No US recording; the speaker uses your device’s en-US voice.

Origin: Formed in English from defend + -er.

Dictionary: Skeat (1898), DEFEND, p.157 · scan

Roots

-fendō, -fēnsum Latin “to strike, ward off”

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