champion

From Middle English champioun, from Old French champion, from Medieval Latin campio (“combatant in a duel, champion”), from Frankish *kampijō (“fighter”), from Proto-West Germanic *kampijō (“combat soldier”), a derivative of Proto-West Germanic *kampijan (“to battle, to campaign”), itself a derivative of Proto-West Germanic *kamp (“battlefield, battle”), ultimately a borrowing in West-Germanic from Latin campus (“a field, a plain, a place of action”).

• (General American, Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈt͡ʃæmpiən/

• Audio (UK)

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• Audio (US)

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• (General Australian) IPA^(key): /ˈt͡ʃæmpjən/
• Rhymes: -æmpiən

champion (plural champions)

1. An ongoing winner in a game or contest.

   The defending champion is expected to defeat his challenger.

2. Someone who is chosen to represent a group of people in a contest.

   Barcelona is eligible to play in FIFA Club World Cup as the champion of Europe.

3. Someone who fights for a cause or status.

   Synonym: paladin

   Emmeline Pankhurst was a champion of women's suffrage.

   • 2012, Sue Watling, Jim Rogers, Social Work in a Digital Society, page 34:

     Specific outcomes from this policy included the appointment of a Digital Champion to drive forward the efforts to get more of the excluded to be included.

4. Someone who fights on another's behalf.

   champion of the poor

5. (botany) A particularly notable member of a plant species, such as one of great size.
   • 1938 November 5, Puritan Cordage Mills, “Take a Lesson from a Lily”, in Elmer C. Hole, editor, American Lumberman‎, volume 65, number 3138, Chicago, page 55:

     Pictured above is an actual photograph of a Regal Lily that famed all over the world. It's a champion plant—because in one season it produced a total of 89 blooms from one bulb, an amazing record among lilies.

   • 2013, Robin Wall Kimmerer, Braiding Sweetgrass, 1st edition, Milkweed Editions, →ISBN, →LCCN, pages 43–44:

     There was a news clipping there with a photo of a magnificent American elm, which had just been named the champion for its species, the largest of its kind.

   • 2022 February 10, Christopher Doyle, “Stockton professor, students discover largest 'champion tree' in New Jersey”, in The Press of Alantic City‎, archived from the original on 2022-02-10:

     He [Matthew Olson] was searching for red maple trees to be tapped for syrup as part of the Stockton Maple Project when he came across the new champion tree.

• championess

champion (not comparable)

1. (attributive) Acting as a champion; having defeated all one's competitors.
2. (attributive) Excellent; beyond compare.
3. (predicative, Ireland, British, dialect) Excellent; brilliant; superb; deserving of high praise.

   "That rollercoaster was champion," laughed Vinny.

• championship

champion (third-person singular simple present champions, present participle championing, simple past and past participle championed)

1. (transitive) To promote, advocate, or act as a champion for (a cause, etc.).
   • 2024 April 3, Richard Foster, “Training the next generation of engineers”, in RAIL, number 1006, page 49:

     While obviously championing the Bluebell [Railway], Beardmore is keen for the 'big railway' to consider utilising what preserved railways can provide.

2. (obsolete, transitive) To challenge.

• John A. Simpson and Edmund S. C. Weiner, editors (1989), “champion”, in The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd edition, Oxford: Clarendon Press, →ISBN.
• “champion”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “champion”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
• “champion”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

Inherited from Old French champion, from Medieval Latin or Late Latin campiōnem, campiōnem (“champion, fighter”), from Frankish *kampijō, from Proto-Germanic *kampijô, based on Latin campus (“level ground”).

• IPA^(key): /ʃɑ̃.pjɔ̃/

• Audio

  (file)

champion m (plural champions, feminine championne)

1. champion

• champion du monde
• championnat
• championner

• champ

• → Bulgarian: шампион (šampion)
• → Czech: šampión
• → Finnish: sampioni
• → Northern Kurdish: şampiyon
• → Luxembourgish: Champion
• → Macedonian: шампион (šampion)
• → Serbo-Croatian: шампион (šampion)
• → Slovak: šampión
• → Turkish: şampiyon

• “champion”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

champion

1. Alternative form of champioun