Relating to boxing, fist-fighting, or pugilism; characteristic of boxers or combat with fists.
Formed from fist with the adjective suffix -ic, meaning 'of or relating to.' This term became standard in English during the 18th and 19th centuries in sporting contexts.
Victorian-era sportswriters would call boxing matches 'fistic encounters' or 'fistic arts'—it's a wonderfully old-fashioned way of making street fighting sound refined and scientific!
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