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Fedayeen: what Wikipedia removed

Fedayeen is the Arabic term used for various armed groups and individuals across the Arab world, including groups that fought Israel. The 2010 opening described fedayeen as “a term used to describe several distinct, militant groups and individuals in the Arab world at different times in history.” Today’s opening calls fedayeen “various military groups willing to sacrifice themselves for a larger campaign,” dropping militant; the word survives 3 times elsewhere in the article. A reader arriving at the opening today learns fedayeen groups sacrificed themselves for a campaign, and not that Wikipedia’s own opening once classed them as militant rather than military.

The word “militant” appeared 2 times in this article’s opening at its peak, in 2010. Today the opening carries none; the body carries 3. Checked against the full current article on 2026-08-01.

The tracked words, snapshot by snapshot

Section titled “The tracked words, snapshot by snapshot”
word20052010201520206 October 20232025
militant021000
islamist100000
resistance100000

Counts are of the opening paragraph only, the part most readers, search engines and AI training sets ever quote.

What was taken out

Section titled “What was taken out”
  • The description of fedayeen as militant groups, rather than military ones, is gone from the opening; a reader no longer sees that word applied to them.

How it opened then, and now

Section titled “How it opened then, and now”

2005 (revision 16066957):

Fedayeen (from the Arabic fida’i , “one who is ready to sacrifice his life for the cause”) describes several distinct, primarily Arab groups at different times in history. The first fedayeen were active from the 8th to the 14th? century and described by their enemies as hashshashin (whence derives the English word “assassin”). The second group was a link of support between the Palestinian communities who had been forced to flee their country during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War . The Fedayeen were based in Egypt , Lebanon and Jordan . The Israeli view is that the Fedayeen were recruited, armed and trained mainly by Egypt’s security forces under the control of Egyptian President Gamal Abdul Nasse…

2025 (revision 1294689171):

Arabic term for irregular militia troops “Fidai” redirects here. For the Palestinian national anthem, see Fida’i . Not to be confused with Armenian fedayi . Fedayeen ( Arabic : فدائيون fidāʻiyyūn Arabic pronunciation: [fɪ.daːʔɪj.juːn] “self-sacrificers”) is an Arabic term used to refer to various military groups willing to sacrifice themselves for a larger campaign. ^ Tony Rea and John Wright (1993). The Arab-Israeli Conflict . Oxford University Press. p. 43 . ISBN 978-0-19-917170-5 .

Section titled “Related”

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