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.

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

• -athon
• marathoner
• half marathon
• ultramarathon
• walking marathon

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)
  • → Hakka: 馬拉松／马拉松 (mà-la-sóng)
• → Korean: 마라톤 (maraton)
• → Swahili: marathoni

Translations

road race

• Arabic: مَارَاثُون m (mārāṯūn)
• Armenian: մարաթոն (hy) (maratʻon)
• Belarusian: марафо́н m (marafón)
• Bengali: ম্যারাথন (bn) (mêrathon)
• Bulgarian: марато́н m (maratón)
• Burmese: မာရသွန် (my) (mara.swan)
• Catalan: marató (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 馬拉松／马拉松 (zh) (mǎlāsōng)

• Czech: maraton (cs) m
• Danish: maraton n or c, maratonløb n
• Dutch: marathon (nl) m
• Esperanto: maratono
• Estonian: maraton
• Finnish: maraton (fi)
• French: marathon (fr) m
• Georgian: მარათონი (maratoni)
• German: Marathon (de) m
• Greek: μαραθώνιος (el) m (marathónios)
• Gujarati: મેરેથોન (merethon)
• Hausa: dogon gudu
• Hebrew: מָרָתוֹן (he) m (maraton)
• Hindi: मैराथन m (mairāthan)
• Hungarian: maraton (hu)
• Icelandic: maraþonhlaup (is) n, maraþon (is) n
• Ido: maratono (io)
• Interlingua: Marathon
• Irish: maratón m
• Italian: maratona (it) f
• Japanese: マラソン (ja) (marason)
• Korean: 마라톤 (ko) (maraton)
• Latin: Marathon
• Latvian: maratons (lv) m
• Lithuanian: maratonas m
• Macedonian: маратон m (maraton)
• Maltese: maratona f
• Maori: te omaoma-a-Tōhē
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: maraton n, maratonløp n

• Polish: maraton (pl) m
• Portuguese: maratona (pt) f
• Romanian: maraton (ro)
• Russian: марафо́н (ru) m (marafón)
• Scottish Gaelic: maraton m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: ма̏рато̄н m

  Roman: mȁratōn (sh) m

• Slovak: maratón m
• Slovene: maraton (sl)
• Spanish: maratón (es) m or f
• Swahili: marathoni
• Swedish: maraton (sv) n, maratonlopp (sv) n
• Thai: มาราธอน (maa-raa-tɔn)
• Turkish: maraton (tr)
• Ukrainian: марафо́н m (marafón), марато́н m (maratón)
• Vietnamese: ma-ra-tông (vi)
• Zhuang: majlahsungh

any extended or sustained activity

• Catalan: marató (ca) f
• Esperanto: ^{(please verify)} maratono
• Finnish: maraton (fi)
• French: marathon (fr) m
• German: Marathon (de) m
• Greek: μαραθώνιος (el) m (marathónios)
• Hungarian: maraton (hu)
• Polish: maraton (pl) m
• Romanian: maraton (ro)
• Russian: марафо́н (ru) m (marafón)
• Spanish: maratón (es) m or f

Verb

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

1. (intransitive) 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^[1]:

     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.

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

• marathonien

Descendants

• → Arabic: مَارَاثُون (mārāṯūn)
• → Czech: maraton, maratón, marathon
• → Danish: maraton, marathon (nonstandard)
• → Dutch: marathon
  • → Papiamentu: máratòn
• → English: marathon
  • → 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)
    • → Hakka: 馬拉松／马拉松 (mà-la-sóng)
  • → Korean: 마라톤 (maraton)
  • → Swahili: marathoni
• → Finnish: maraton
• → German: Marathon
• → Greek: μαραθώνιος (marathónios) (calque)
• → Hebrew: מָרָתוֹן (maraton)
• → Hungarian: maraton
• → Latvian: maratons
• → Lithuanian: maratonas
• → Norwegian Bokmål: maraton
• → Polish: maraton
• → Romanian: maraton
• → Serbo-Croatian: mȁratōn
• → Swedish: maraton
• → Turkish: maraton
• → Vietnamese: ma-ra-tông

Further reading

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