mujahedin

The term 'mujahedin' entered English in the late 20th century, primarily through media coverage of the Afghan-Soviet War. It originates from the Arabic word 'mujāhid', which is the active participle of 'jāhada', meaning "to struggle" or "to strive". This verb is the root of the more familiar term 'jihad', often translated as "holy war" but more accurately encompassing a spiritual or physical struggle. Thus, 'mujahedin' literally translates to "those who engage in struggle", a meaning that was directly adopted into English to refer specifically to Islamic fighters engaged in a conflict perceived as a holy war.

This word is a loanword from Arabic, borrowed as a single lexical unit into English. It is the plural form of the Arabic 'mujāhid', meaning "one who struggles" or "holy warrior".