Standard Lemma guide

pentathlon

noun · 4 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • CMU ARPABET: P EH0 N T AE1 TH L AH0 N Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

An ancient athletics discipline, featuring five events: stadion, wrestling, long jump, javelin and discus

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: ancient pentathlon, Greek pentathlon, ancient Greek pentathlon

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

Ellipsis of women's pentathlon (“a 20th-century athletics discipline for women, the women's counterpart of the men's decathlon, the predecessor to the women's heptathlon, featuring five events: hurdles, shot put, high jump, long jump, and a run”).

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: abbreviation, alt-of, ellipsis

Topics: athletics, hobbies, lifestyle, sports

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

Ellipsis of modern pentathlon, a discipline with five events based on late-19th century basic military skills.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: abbreviation, alt-of, ellipsis

Topics: athletics, hobbies, lifestyle, sports

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

4

noun

Meaning 4

an athletic contest consisting of five different events

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: athletic contest, athletic competition, athletics

History

Etymology

Borrowed from Ancient Greek πένταθλον (péntathlon), from πέντε (pénte, “five”) + ἆθλον (âthlon, “contest”). By surface analysis, penta- + -athlon.

Across languages

Translations

56 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Bulgarian: петобой (petoboj) — ancient pentathlon
  • Catalan: pentatló — ancient pentathlon
  • Czech: pětiboj — ancient pentathlon
  • Dutch: pentatlon — ancient pentathlon
  • Finnish: antiikin viisiottelu — ancient pentathlon
  • French: pentathlon — ancient pentathlon
  • Galician: péntatlon — ancient pentathlon
  • Georgian: ხუთჭიდი (xutč̣idi) — ancient pentathlon
  • German: Fünfkampf — ancient pentathlon
  • German: Pentathlon — ancient pentathlon
  • Italian: pentathlon — ancient pentathlon
  • Macedonian: петобој (petoboj) — ancient pentathlon
  • Macedonian: пентатлон (pentatlon) — ancient pentathlon
  • Portuguese: pentatlo — ancient pentathlon
  • Romanian: pentatlon — ancient pentathlon
  • Russian: пятибо́рье (pjatibórʹje) — ancient pentathlon
  • Spanish: pentatlón — ancient pentathlon
  • Swedish: femkamp — ancient pentathlon
  • Ukrainian: п'ятибо́рство (pʺjatybórstvo) — ancient pentathlon
  • German: Fünfkampf — 20th-century women's pentathlon
  • German: Frauenfünfkampf — 20th-century women's pentathlon
  • Macedonian: петобој (petoboj) — 20th-century women's pentathlon
  • Macedonian: пентатлон (pentatlon) — 20th-century women's pentathlon
  • Ukrainian: п'ятибо́рство (pʺjatybórstvo) — 20th-century women's pentathlon
  • Armenian: հնգամարտ (hngamart) — modern pentathlon
  • Bulgarian: модерен петобой (moderen petoboj) — modern pentathlon
  • Catalan: pentatló — modern pentathlon
  • Chinese Mandarin: 五項全能 /五项全能 (wǔxiàng quánnéng) — modern pentathlon
  • Czech: pětiboj — modern pentathlon
  • Danish: femkamp — modern pentathlon
  • Dutch: vijfkamp — modern pentathlon
  • Estonian: viievõistlus — modern pentathlon
  • Finnish: nykyaikainen viisiottelu — modern pentathlon
  • Galician: péntatlon — modern pentathlon
  • German: Fünfkampf — modern pentathlon
  • German: Moderner Fünfkampf — modern pentathlon
  • Greek: πένταθλο (péntathlo) — modern pentathlon
  • Hungarian: öttusa — modern pentathlon
  • Icelandic: fimmþraut — modern pentathlon
  • Japanese: 五種競技 (goshu kyōgi) — modern pentathlon
  • Japanese: ペンタスロン (pentasuron) — modern pentathlon
  • Kazakh: бессайыс (bessaiys) — modern pentathlon
  • Korean: 오종경기 (ojonggyeonggi) — modern pentathlon
  • Latvian: pieccīņa — modern pentathlon
  • Lithuanian: penkiakovė — modern pentathlon
  • Norwegian Bokmål: femkamp — modern pentathlon
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: femkamp — modern pentathlon
  • Polish: pięciobój — modern pentathlon
  • Portuguese: pentatlo — modern pentathlon
  • Romanian: pentatlon — modern pentathlon
  • Russian: пятибо́рье (pjatibórʹje) — modern pentathlon
  • Slovak: päťboj — modern pentathlon
  • Spanish: pentatlón — modern pentathlon
  • Swedish: femkamp — modern pentathlon
  • Turkish: pentatlon — modern pentathlon
  • Ukrainian: п'ятибо́рство (pʺjatybórstvo) — modern pentathlon