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fist

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fist¹

  • /fɪst/

Rhymes with -ɪst

Where it comes from

From Middle English fist, from Old English fȳst (“fist”), from Proto-West Germanic *fūsti (“fist”), of uncertain origin, but possibly from Proto-Indo-European *pewǵ- (“to punch; to prick, stab”).

Cognates

Cognate with Yola fest, hist (“fist”), Saterland Frisian Fäste, Fääste (“fist”), West Frisian fûst (“fist”), Central Franconian Fuus (“fist”), Cimbrian bòista, vòista (“fist”), Dutch vuist (“fist”), German Faust (“fist”), Low German Fuust (“fist”), Luxembourgish Fauscht (“fist”), Vilamovian faojst, faust (“fist”), Yiddish פֿויסט (foyst, “fist”); also Irish fuaigh (“sew, stitch”), Latin pugnus (“fist”), Ancient Greek πυγμή (pugmḗ, “fist”), πύκτης (púktēs, “boxer, pugilist”), Lithuanian kumštis (“fist”), Bulgarian пестник (pestnik, “fist; punch”), Czech pěst (“fist”), Polish pięść (“fist”), Russian пясть (pjastʹ, “metacarpus”), Serbo-Croatian пе̏ст, pȅst, пѐсница, pèsnica (“fist”), Slovak päsť (“fist”), Slovene pest (“fist”). More at five.

noun fists

  1. A hand with the fingers clenched or curled inward. The boxer's fists rained down on his opponent in the last round.
  2. Synonym of manicule.

    Similar: manicule

  3. The characteristic signaling rhythm of an individual telegraph or CW operator when sending Morse code.
  4. slang A person's characteristic handwriting.
  5. A group of men.
  6. The talons of a bird of prey. More light then Culver in the Faulcons fist.
  7. informal An attempt at something. City look stronger, fitter and more motivated than last season and even at this early stage the gap feels like a sizeable advantage. Yes, it is way too early to make snap judgments about the impact on the title race. It has, however, been long enough to ascertain that Manuel Pellegrini’s team are go

Similar: nief, bunch of fives, fist-size, ductus

verb fists · fisting · fisted

  1. To strike with the fist. ...may not score a point with his open hand(s), but may score a point by fisting the ball.
  2. To close (the hand) into a fist. He noticed Ada's trick of hiding her fingernails by fisting her hand or stretching it with the palm turned upward when helping herself to a biscuit.
  3. To grip with a fist. I am an officer; but, how I wish I could fist a bit of old-fashioned beef in the fore-castle, as I used to when I was before the mast.
  4. slang To fist-fuck.
  5. transitive To stomp, to utterly defeat

fist²

  • /fɪst/

Rhymes with -ɪst

Where it comes from

From Middle English fisten, fiesten, from Old English *fistan ("to break wind gently"; supported by Old English fisting (“breaking wind”)), from Proto-Germanic *fistaz (“breaking wind, fart”), from Proto-Germanic *fīsaną (“to break or discharge wind, fart”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)peys- (“to blow, breathe”). Cognate with Dutch veest (“a fart”), Low German fīsten (“to break wind”), German Fist (“a quiet wind”), Fisten (“breaking wind”), Swedish fisa (“to fart”), Latin spīrō (“breathe, blow”).

verb fists · fisting · fisted

  1. intransitive To break wind.

noun fists

  1. The act of breaking wind; fise.
  2. A puffball.

FIST³

proper noun

  1. abbreviation, acronym Acronym of Future Infantry Soldier Technology

Thesaurus

Closest in meaning: clenched fist, punching, punch, grip, boxing, blow, head, kisser, handgun, mug, piss, brass, first, nose, profit, percussion

noun

Similar: nief, bunch of fives, fist-size, ductus

Translations

Every language

noun clenched hand

Españolpuño
한국어주먹 jumeok
日本語拳 kobushi
中文拳頭 /拳头 quántou
हिन्दीमुट्ठी muṭṭhī, मुश्त muśt
Kiswahilingumi, konde
Portuguêspunho
Françaispoing
DeutschFaust
Italianopugno
Ελληνικάγροθιά grothiá
Românăpumn
Русскийкула́к kulák
Tiếng Việtquyền, nắm đấm, nắm tay
العربيةقَبْضَة qabḍa
עבריתאֶגרוֹף egróf

noun (ham radio) the characteristic signaling rhythm

Portuguêspulso

noun (printing) the pointing hand symbol

Españolmanecilla, manícula
Françaismanicule
Italianomanina

verb to strike with the fist

Españolapuñalar
हिन्दीमुक्का मारना mukkā mārnā, घूंसा मारना ghūnsā mārnā

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Cite this
MLA

"fist." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/fist. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

fist. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/fist

Chicago

"fist." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/fist.

BibTeX
@misc{fist_2026,
  title = {fist},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/fist},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}