-mach, -machy, -machies, -machia, -machist, -machic, -machical

(Greek: battle, war; fight; contest)

alectryomachy (uh lek" tri AHM uh ki), alectoromachy, alektoromachy (s) (noun); alectryomachies, alectoromachies, alektoromachies (pl)
1. Cock fighting, or rooster fighting: In the story Mark was reading, the men in the village gathered together in a barn to view what was termed alectryomachy and to bet on the best cock that won. This activity was actually against the law.
2. Etymology: compounded of Greek alectryko, "cock, rooster" plus machy, "battle, fight".
Chickens attack woman.

Attack! We don't want to be bagged and thrown into a big ditch and burned alive because these humans think we cause avian flu!

—Word Info image © ALL rights reserved.

Is it possible that Alectryomachy, which was originally the fighting of roosters against each other, may now be roosters (and chickens in general) fighting against humans for self-defense and for their survival?

If you watch TV as people make wholesale attacks on chickens in efforts to suppress avian flu, who could blame chickens for striking back? This becomes particularly a rational result of seeing chickens being stuffed into plastic bags, while still alive, and so slowly suffocating to death with other members of their species or being burned alive.

I did not become a vegetarian for my health. I did it for the health of the chickens.

—Isaac Bashevis Singer
andromachy (s) (noun), andromachies (pl)
A war between men or a conflict between two men.
angelmachy (s) (noun), angelmachies (pl)
A war between angels.
arctomachy (s) (noun), arctomachies (pl)
Fights between bears.
batrachoherpetomachia (s) (noun), batrachoherpetomachias (pl)
A fight between a frog and a snake.
batrachoherpetomachy (s) (noun), batrachoherpetomachies (pl)
A fight, or battle, between a frog and a snake.
batrachomyomachia (s) (noun), batrachomyomachias (pl)
A storm in a puddle, much ado about nothing; literally, the battle between frogs and mice.
batrachomyomachian (adjective), more batrachomyomachian, most batrachomyomachian
A reference to a petty quarrel or dispute: Max had a batrachomyomachian habit of exaggerating the importance of insignificant things; such as, "early to bed and early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise".
batrachomyomachist (s) (noun), batrachomyomachists (pl)
Anyone who exaggerates the importance of insignificant things.
batrachomyomachy (s) (noun), batrachomyomachies (pl)
1. The battle of the frogs and mice, a mock heroic poem, possibly of the Homeric age.
2. Etymology: from Greek batrachos, "frog" + mys, "mouse" + machia, "fighting", a word related to English "might, machine", and "magic". Mys is of the same origin as Latin mus, from musculus, "a little mouse"; then it became French "muscle" and then it was adapted into English with the same meaning.
batrochoherpetomachy
Another spelling of batrachoherpetomachy which is a fight between a frog and a snake.
centauromachia (s) (noun), centauromachias (pl)
In ancient art: A battle in which centaurs take part.
cheiromachy, chiromachy (s) (noun); cheiromachies, chiromachies (pl)
Hand-to-hand combat; fist fighting.
cynarctomachy (s) (noun), cynarctomachies (pl)
The fighting of dogs and bears; bear-baiting.
cytomachia (s) (noun), cytomachias (pl)
A form of cell-fighting: Cytomachia is the apparent struggle between pathogenic micro-organisms and the cells that exist in the body to protect it.

Related "war, war-like" or "battle" word units: areo-; belli-; milit-.