# champion

> English word · Noun · IPA /ˈt͡ʃæm.pi.ən/ · frequency rank #2,381

## Definitions
1. An ongoing winner in a game or contest.
2. Someone who is chosen to represent a group of people in a contest.
3. Someone who fights for a cause or status.
4. Someone who fights on another's behalf.
5. A particularly notable member of a plant species, such as one of great size.

## Etymology
Etymology tree
Proto-Indo-European *kh₂em-der.
Proto-Indo-European *kh₂ém-po-s
Proto-Italic *kampos
Latin campusbor.
Frankish *kamp
Proto-Indo-European *-yéti
Proto-Germanic *-janą
Frankish *-jan
Frankish *kampijan
Proto-Germanic *-jô
Frankish *-jō
Frankish *kampijōbor.
Medieval Latin campiō
Old French champiunbor.
Middle English champioun
English champion
From Middle English champioun, from Old French champion, from Medieval Latin campio (“combatant in a duel, champion”), from Frankish *kampijō (“fighter”), from Proto-West Germanic *kampijō (“combat soldier”), a derivative of *kampijan (“to battle, to campaign”), itself a derivative of *kamp (“battlefield, battle”), ultimately a borrowing in West-Germanic from Latin campus (“a field, a plain, a place of action”). By surface analysis champ + -ion.
Cognate with Old English cæmpa, cempa (“soldier, warrior, champion”), Old High German kempfeo, kempfo (“fighter, warrior, champion”), whence archaic German Kempfe (“fighter”).

## Easily confused with
- **Chapin** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/champion-vs-chapin)
- **campion** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/campion-vs-champion)
- **champaign** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/champaign-vs-champion)

## Common misspellings (12)
`cahmpion`, `cchampion`, `chamipon`, `chammpion`, `champino`, `championn`, `champoin`, `champpion`, `chapmion`, `chhampion`, `chmapion`, `hcampion`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/champion