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Taking 2 sentences from [WWWJDIC](http://www.csse.monash.edu.au/~jwb/cgi-
bin/wwwjdic.cgi?1Q%B7%F6%B2%DE_1_) as examples:

>   1. 見てごらん。２人の男の子がけんかしている。
>
>   2. 議論は最後に喧嘩になった。
>
>

I was wondering is it true that the 「喧嘩」 in the sentences above may be
interpreted both ways (i.e. it may be a physical fight, but it could as well
have been a quarrel (verbal fight) instead)?
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2011-09-28T18:31:31.183
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2011-09-28T20:32:32.607
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question
word-choice vocabulary
Is 「喧嘩」 a verbal fight or a physical fight?
There’s actually a wikipedia article on けんか!
<http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%96%A7%E5%98%A9>

It does mention both verbal （口喧嘩） and physical （殴り合い喧嘩、刀剣など） fights. It seems
the original meaning was something like “a noisy ruckus”, from which the
present uses developed. (Kangorin says the same.)
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answer