fortress

English

Etymology

Early 14 c., from Old French forteresce, forteresse, forterece (“strong place, fortification”), variant of fortelesse, from Medieval Latin fortalitia, from Latin fortis (“strong”) (see fort) +‎ -itia, added to adjectives to form nouns of quality or condition. French -ess, from Latin -itia is also in words such as duress, largesse and riches. For change of medial -l- to -r- in Old French, compare orne (“elm”) from ulmus; chartre from cartula and chapitre from capitulum. First attested in the 12th century.

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈfoɹ.tɹɪs/, /ˈfoɹ.tɹəs/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈfɔː.tɹəs/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Hyphenation: fort‧ress
• (without the horse–hoarse merger, rhotic) IPA^(key): /ˈfɔ(ː)ɹ.tɹəs/

Noun

fortress (plural fortresses)

1. A fortified place; a large and permanent fortification, sometimes including a town; for example a fort, a castle; a stronghold; a place of defense or security.
   • 1981, William Irwin Thompson, The Time Falling Bodies Take to Light: Mythology, Sexuality and the Origins of Culture, London: Rider/Hutchinson & Co., page 160:

     Like the Mesolithic age of 10,000-8000 B.C., the period 6000-4000 B.C. seems to be one of the fall of fortresses and the rise of pastoral nomadism.

2. (chess) A position that, if obtained by the weaker side, will prevent penetration by the opposing side, generally achieving a draw.

Synonyms

• bastion, stronghold, bulwark, citadel

Translations

fortified place

• Ainu: チャシ (chashi)
• Albanian: kala (sq) f, fortesë (sq) f
• Arabic: قَلْعَة f (qalʕa), حِصْن (ar) m (ḥiṣn)

  Moroccan Arabic: قلعة f (qalʕa)

• Armenian: ամրոց (hy) (amrocʻ), բերդ (hy) (berd)
• Aromanian: tsitati f, grãditã f
• Azerbaijani: qala (az)
• Belarusian: крэ́пасць f (krépascʹ), фартэ́цыя f (fartécyja), цвердзь f (cvjerdzʹ), фартэ́ца f (fartéca)
• Bengali: দুর্গ (bn) (durgo), কেল্লা (bn) (kella), কোট (bn) (kōṭ)
• Bulgarian: кре́пост (bg) f (krépost)
• Burmese: ခံမြို့ (my) (hkammrui.), ခံတပ် (my) (hkamtap)
• Catalan: fortalesa (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 要塞 (zh) (yàosài), 城堡 (zh) (chéngbǎo), 堡壘／堡垒 (zh) (bǎolěi)

• Classical Nahuatl: yāōcalli
• Czech: pevnost (cs) f
• Danish: fæstning (da) c
• Dutch: vesting (nl) f, fort (nl) n
• Dzongkha: རྫོང (rdzong)
• Erzya: кемечикудо (kemečikudo)
• Esperanto: fortreso, fortiko
• Estonian: kindlus
• Finnish: linnoitus (fi)
• French: forteresse (fr) f
• Galician: forte (gl) m, fortaleza (gl) f
• Georgian: ციხესიმაგრე (cixesimagre)
• German: Festung (de) f
• Gothic: 𐌱𐌰𐌿𐍂𐌲𐍃 f (baurgs)
• Greek: φρούριο (el) n (froúrio)

  Ancient: φρούριον n (phroúrion), ὀχύρωμα n (okhúrōma)

• Hebrew: מִבְצָר (he) m (mivtsár)
• Hindi: गढ़ी (hi) (gaṛhī), क़िला m (qilā), दुर्ग (hi) m (durg)
• Hungarian: vár, erőd (hu), erődítmény (hu)
• Icelandic: virki n
• Ido: fortreso (io)
• Ingrian: kreeposti
• Irish: dún
• Italian: fortezza (it) f, rocca (it) f
• Japanese: 要塞 (ja) (ようさい, yōsai), 城塞 (ja) (じょうさい, jōsai)
• Kalmyk: шивә (şivä)
• Karakalpak: qorg'an
• Kazakh: бекініс (bekınıs), қамал (qamal)
• Khmer: បន្ទាយ (km) (bɑntiəy)
• Korean: 요새(要塞) (ko) (yosae), 성새(城塞) (seongsae)
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: قەڵا (ckb) (qella)

  Northern Kurdish: birc (ku), kelhe (ku)

• Kyrgyz: сепил (ky) (sepil)
• Lao: ປ້ອມ (pǭm), ບຸລະ (bu la)
• Latin: castrum (la) n, castellum (la) n, arx (la) f
• Latvian: cietoksnis m
• Lithuanian: tvirtovė f
• Macedonian: твр́дина f (tvŕdina), ка́ле n (kále), кре́пост f (krépost)
• Malay: kubu (ms), benteng (ms)
• Maranao: ilian
• Mongolian:

  Cyrillic: цайз (mn) (cajz), хэрэм (mn) (xerem)

• Norman: fortéresse f (Jersey)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: festning m or f

  Nynorsk: festning f or m

• Occitan: fortalesa (oc) f
• Old English: fæsten n
• Ottoman Turkish: حصار (hisar), حصن (hısn), قلعه (kalʼe), كرمان (kerman, kirman), قسطل (kastel)
• Pashto: قلعه (ps) m (qal'á)
• Persian:

  Dari: دِژ (fa) (diž), قَلْعَه (fa) (qal'a)

  Iranian Persian: دِژ (fa) (dež), قَلْعِه (fa) (ğal'e)

• Polish: forteca (pl) f, twierdza (pl) f, warownia (pl) f
• Portuguese: fortaleza (pt) f
• Potawatomi: wakaigin
• Quechua: pukara
• Romanian: cetate (ro) f, fortăreață (ro) f
• Russian: кре́пость (ru) f (krépostʹ)
• Sanskrit: पुरा (sa) (purā), दुर्ग (sa) m (durga), पुरी (sa) f (purī)
• Scots: fortress
• Scottish Gaelic: dùn m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: твр̀ђава f, у̏тврда f, тврђа f

  Roman: tvr̀đava (sh) f, ȕtvrda (sh) f, tvȑđa (sh) f

• Shona: svingo
• Slovak: pevnosť f, tvrdza m
• Slovene: utrdba (sl) f
• Sorbian:

  Lower Sorbian: grod m

• Spanish: fortaleza (es) f
• Swedish: fästning (sv) c
• Tajik: қалъа (qalʾa), диж (tg) (diž)
• Tashelhit: ⵜⴰⴳⴰⴷⵉⵔⵜ f (tagadirt)
• Tatar: кальга (tt) (qal’ga)
• Thai: ป้อม (th) (bpɔ̂m), ปราการ (th) (bpraa-gaan)
• Turkish: kale (tr), hisar (tr)
• Turkmen: gala
• Ukrainian: форте́ця (uk) f (fortécja), крі́пость f (krípostʹ), тверди́ня f (tverdýnja)
• Urdu: قِلْعَہ m (qil'a), قَلْعَہ m (qal'a)
• Uyghur: قەلئە (qel'e)
• Uzbek: qalʻa
• Vietnamese: pháo đài (vi)
• Welsh: caer (cy) f
• Yiddish: פֿעסטונג f (festung)
• Zhuang: yausai

chess technique

• German: Festung (de) f

See also

• fortalice, fortilice

Verb

fortress (third-person singular simple present fortresses, present participle fortressing, simple past and past participle fortressed)

1. (transitive) To furnish with a fortress or with fortresses; to guard, to fortify.
   • 1594, William Shakespeare, Lucrece (First Quarto)‎^[1], London: […] Richard Field, for Iohn Harrison, […], →OCLC:

     Honour and Beautie in the owners armes, / Are weaklie fortreſt from a world of harmes.