marathon

See also: Marathon

English

Etymology

From French marathon, coined in 1894 by linguist Michel Bréal for the first modern time Olympic Games after Ancient Greek Μαραθών (Marathṓn), a town northeast of Athens. Phidippides the Greek ran the distance from Marathon to Athens to deliver a message regarding the Battle of Marathon. The modern sport of marathon running is based on a run approximately the same distance. The toponym itself comes from μάραθον (márathon, “fennel”) and refers to the prevalence of the plant in the area.[1]

Pronunciation
  • (UK) IPA(key): /ˈmæɹəθən/
  • (US) IPA(key): /ˈmæɹəˌθɑn/, /ˈmɛɹəˌθɑn/
  • (General Australian) IPA(key): /ˈmæɹə(ˌ)θɔn/
  • (New Zealand) IPA(key): /ˈmɛɹə(ˌ)θɔn/
  • Audio (Southern England)(file)
  • Hyphenation: mar‧a‧thon

Noun

marathon (plural marathons)

  1. A 42.195-kilometre (26-mile-385-yard) road race.
  2. (figuratively, by extension) Any extended or sustained activity.
    He had a cleaning marathon the night before his girlfriend came over.
    • 2023 June 10, Patricia Murphy, “OPINION: ‘Atlanta way’ long gone as city leaders face death threats over training center”, in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution:
      After a marathon session that included more than 14 hours of mostly negative public comment, the council agreed 11 to 4 to fund the center, and then gaveled out just before 6 a.m.

Derived terms

Descendants
  • → Bengali: ম্যারাথন (mêrathon)
  • → Chinese: 馬拉松／马拉松 (mǎlāsōng)
    • → Zhuang: majlahsungh
    Mandarin: 馬拉松／马拉松 (mǎlāsōng), 马拉松 (mǎlāsōng)
  • → Gujarati: મેરેથોન (merethon)
  • → Hindi: मैराथन (mairāthan)
  • → Japanese: マラソン (marason)
  • → Korean: 마라톤 (maraton)
  • → Swahili: marathoni

Translations

Verb

marathon (third-person singular simple present marathons, present participle marathoning, simple past and past participle marathoned)

  1. To run a marathon.
    • 2015 August 1, “‘I was cross that my child had to beg the prime minister for a drug’”, in The Guardian‎:
      In less than two years, they and their family and friends have skydived, marathoned, tray-baked and dinner-danced their way to £130,000 for Duchenne research through their help4harry campaign.
  2. (informal, transitive) To watch or read a large number of instalments of (a film, book, TV series, etc.) in one sitting.
    We're going to marathon Star Trek next weekend.

References
  1. "Μαραθών". A Greek-English Lexicon. 1940. Henry George Liddell and Robert Scott. 12 September 2013, http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0057:entry=*maraqw/n.

Dutch

Pronunciation
  • Audio(file)

Noun

marathon m (plural marathons, diminutive marathonnetje n)

  1. marathon

Descendants
  • → Papiamentu: máratòn

French

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Ancient Greek Μαραθών (Marathṓn).

Pronunciation
  • IPA(key): /ma.ʁa.tɔ̃/
  • Audio(file)

Noun

marathon m (plural marathons)

  1. marathon

Derived terms

Descendants

Further reading
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