Other forms: duels
A duel is a formal fight between two people with matched weapons. Fight a duel, challenge him to a duel, a duel at dawn.
The rules were the whole institution, since seconds, weapons and distance were all agreed in advance and the point was honour rather than killing. It was illegal long before it stopped, and it stopped when it became ridiculous.
1nounduelA formal fight between two people with matched weapons.
“The two officers met at dawn to fight a duel with pistols.”
duel is a fight.
Medieval Latin duellum is an old form of bellum, war, later associated with duo, two.
Middle French
duel
itc-ola
duellum — war, fight
Medieval Latin
duellum — fight between two men, duel
English, today
duel
Built from
From Medieval Latin duellum (“fight between two men, duel”), itself from itc-ola duellum (“war, fight”), which survived in Classical Latin as a rare byform of bellum and was later reinterpreted as “duel” by unetymological association with duo (“two”). May have entered English through Middle French duel.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA