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 from 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)

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.
(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

Translations

fortified place

Ainu: チャシ (chashi)
Albanian: kala (sq) f, fortesë (sq) f
Arabic: قَلْعَة‎ f (qalʿa), حِصْن‎ (ar) m (ḥiṣn)
Moroccan Arabic: قلعة‎ f (qalʿa)
Armenian: ամրոց (hy) (amrocʿ), 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) (durgô), কেল্লা (bn) (kella), কোট (koṭ)
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)
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 (shivä)
Karakalpak: qorg'an
Kazakh: бекініс (bekınıs), қамал (qamal)
Khmer: បន្ទាយ (km) (bɑntiəy)
Korean: 요새(要塞) (ko) (yosae)
Kurdish:
Central Kurdish: قەڵا‎ (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
Old English: fæsten n
Ottoman Turkish: حصن‎ (hısn)
Pashto: قلعه‎ (ps) m (qal'á)
Persian: دژ‎ (fa) (dež), قلعه‎ (fa) (qal'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)
Turkmen: gala
Ukrainian: форте́ця (uk) f (fortécja), крі́пость f (krípostʹ), тверди́ня f (tverdýnja)
Urdu: قلعہ‎ m (qil'ā)
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

Verb

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

(transitive) To furnish with a fortress or with fortresses; to guard, to fortify.
- 1594, William Shakespeare, Lucrece (First Quarto)‎, London: […] Richard Field, for Iohn Harrison, […], OCLC 236076664:
  Honour and Beautie in the owners armes, / Are weaklie fortreſt from a world of harmes.