checkmate

English

Etymology

From Middle English chekmat, from Old French eschec mat, from Persian شاه مات (shah mat), the king is ambushed or the king is conquered

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈt͡ʃɛkmeɪt/, X-SAMPA: /"tSEkmeIt/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪt

Interjection

checkmate

1. (chess) Word called out by the victor when making the conclusive move.

Synonyms

• (chess): mate

Translations

said when making the conclusive move in chess

• Albanian: shah mat (sq)
• Arabic: مات (ar) (maat) m
• Armenian: շախ և մատ (hy) (šax ev mat) , մատ (hy) (mat) 
• Bulgarian: мат (bg) (mat) 
• Catalan: escac i mat (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 將死 (cmn), 将死 (cmn) (jiāngsǐ)

• Czech: mat (cs), šach mat (cs) m
• Danish: skakmat (da) c
• Dutch: schaakmat (nl), mat (nl)
• Estonian: šahh ja matt (et)
• Finnish: shakki ja matti (fi)
• French: échec et mat (fr)
• Galician: xaque mate (gl)
• German: schachmatt (de)
• Greek: ματ (el) (mat) 
• Hindi: मात (hi) (māt)
• Hungarian: sakk-matt (hu)
• Italian: scacco matto (it)

• Japanese: チェックメイト (ja) (chekkumeito), 詰み (ja) (つみ, tsumi)
• Khmer: ស្លាប់ក្រឡា (km) (slap krɑlaa)
• Macedonian: шах-мат (mk) (šah-mat), мат (mk) (mat)
• Malay: syahmat (ms)
• Norwegian: sjakkmatt (no)
• Persian: شهمات (fa) (šāhmāt), کیش و مات (fa)
• Portuguese: xeque-mate (pt)
• Romanian: șah mat (ro)
• Russian: мат (ru) (mat) m , шах и мат (ru) (šax i mat) 
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: шах-мат (sh), мат (sh)

  Roman: šah-mat (sh), mat (sh)

• Slovene: šah mat (sl), mat (sl)
• Spanish: jaque mate (es)
• Swedish: schackmatt (sv)
• Turkish: şah mat (tr)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.

Translations to be checked

• Portuguese: xeque-mate m

Noun

Wikipedia checkmate (plural checkmates)

1. The conclusive victory in a game of chess that occurs when an opponent's king is threatened with unavoidable capture.
2. (figuratively, by extension) Any losing situation with no escape; utter defeat.

Related terms

• stalemate

Translations

conclusive victory in a game of chess

• Arabic: شاه مات (ar) (šāh māt)
• Armenian: շախմատ (hy) (shakhmat) 
• Bulgarian: мат (bg) (mat) m 
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 將死 (cmn), 将死 (cmn) (jiāngsǐ)

• Czech: mat (cs) m
• Dutch: schaakmat (nl), mat (nl)
• Estonian: matt (et)
• Finnish: matti (fi)
• Galician: xaque mate (gl) m
• German: Schachmatt (de) n
• Greek: ματ (el) (mat) n 
• Hungarian: sakk-matt (hu), matt (hu)

• Italian: scacco matto (it) m
• Japanese: 詰み (ja) (つみ, tsumi), チェックメイト (ja) (chekkumeito)
• Persian: شهمات (fa) (shâhmât)
• Polish: mat (pl) m
• Portuguese: xeque-mate (pt) m
• Romanian: șah-mat (ro) n
• Russian: шах и мат (ru) (šax i mat) m , мат (ru) (mat) m 
• Slovak: mat (sk) m
• Slovene: šah mat (sl) m, mat (sl) m
• Spanish: jaque mate (es) m, mate (es) m
• Swedish: matt (sv) c, schack matt (sv) c

losing situation with no escape

• Bulgarian: мат (bg) (mat) m 
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 徹底失敗 (cmn), 彻底失败 (cmn) (chè dǐ shī bài)

• Czech: matová situace (cs) f

• Estonian: lüüasaamine (et)
• German: Schachmatt (de) n, Niederlage (de) f
• Slovak: matová situácia (sk) f

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.

Translations to be checked

• French: échec et mat
• Korean: 외통 장군 (oetong janggun)

• Latin: latrunculusque matum

Verb

checkmate (third-person singular simple present checkmates, present participle checkmating, simple past and past participle checkmated)

1. (transitive, chess) To put the king of an opponent into checkmate.

   That jerk checkmated me in four moves!

2. (transitive, by extension) To place in a losing situation that has no escape.

Translations

to put an opponent into chessmate

• Bulgarian: матирам (bg) (matiram) 
• Chinese: 把...將死, 把...将死 (bǎ...jiàng sǐ)
• Czech: matovat (cs), dát mat (cs)
• Finnish: matittaa (fi), tehdä matti (fi)
• Hungarian: mattot ad (hu)
• Persian: شهمات کردن (fa) (šahmāt kardan), مات کردن (fa) (māt kardan)

• Russian: ставить мат (ru) (stávit’ mat)  impf., поставить мат (ru) (postávit’ mat)  pf.
• Slovak: dať šach mat (sk)
• Slovene: matirati (sl)

to lead to a situation of no escape

• Bulgarian: матирам (bg) (matiram) 
• Chinese: 挫敗, 挫败 (cuò bài)

• Finnish: saattaa umpikujaan, panna ahtaalle
• Hungarian: sarokba szorít (hu)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.

Translations to be checked

• French: faire échec et mat
• Portuguese: dar xeque-mate
• Romanian: șah mat

• Spanish: dar jaque mate, dar mate
• Swedish: schackmatta (1), sätta matt (1), göra matt (1), sätta schackmatt (1), göra schackmatt (1)

References

• Daily Times article on the etymology of the word