pelear

Pronunciation

• Hyphenation: pe‧le‧ar

Verb

pelear (first-person singular present peleio, first-person singular preterite peleei, past participle peleado)

1. (South Brazil) Alternative form of pelejar

Etymology

From pelo (“hair”) +‎ -ear, in the sense of close physical combat, as in the expression agarrarse de las greñas (“to fight”, literally “to grab each others' matted locks”). Compare the semantic development of Romanian părui (“to fight by pulling hair”) from Romanian păr (“hair”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /peleˈaɾ/ [pe.leˈaɾ]

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aɾ
• Syllabification: pe‧le‧ar

Verb

pelear (first-person singular present peleo, first-person singular preterite peleé, past participle peleado)

1. (intransitive) to fight (to contend in physical conflict)

   Synonyms: luchar, lidiar, bregar

2. (intransitive) to fight, to argue

   Synonym: discutir

3. (intransitive) to fight for, to struggle against

   Synonyms: batallar, combatir, luchar, bregar

   • 2022 December 21, Beatriz Serrano, “Los 85 años de Jane Fonda: de estrella de Hollywood a superestrella del activismo”, in El País‎:

     Sin embargo, se rebeló contra su destino cuando encontró motivos para pelear por un mundo mejor[.]

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

4. (reflexive) to mutually fight

   Synonyms: luchar, reñir, (Mexico) madrearse

5. (reflexive, by extension) to discord or dispute; to become enemies

   Synonym: enemistarse

6. (reflexive, by extension) to lose or stop, temporally or definitively, a friendship, partnership, etc.

   Synonym: enojarse

Further reading

• “pelear”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2024 December 10

Anagrams

• pelare, pelaré, repela