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For other meanings of the term, see Melée (disambiguation).

Codex Manesse: a picture of mêlée at a tournament

Melee (from the French, IPA: [mɛle].) generally refers to disorganized close combat involving a group of fighters. A melee ensues when groups become locked together in combat with no regard to group tactics or fighting as an organized unit; each participant fights as an individual.

The French term is the feminine past participle of the verb mêler "to mix". Nominalized, it refers to any confused tangle or agitated scramble, in particular unordered combat. The term descends from Old French meslede, from Vulgar Latin misculāta "mixed", from Latin miscēre "to mix"; compare mélange, milieu.

Like many other foreign-derived terms used in common English, the word is typically written with the accents omitted, appearing as just "melee" and pronounced (IPA: /ˈmɛleɪ, ˈmeɪleɪ/.

During the Middle Ages, tournaments often contained a mêlée consisting of knights fighting one another on foot or while mounted, either divided into two sides or fighting as a free-for-all. This was, in fact, the original form of tournaments and the most popular between the twelfth and thirteenth centuries—jousting being a later development, and one that did not completely displace the mêlée until many more centuries had passed. The original melee was engaged with normal weapons and fraught with as much danger as a normal battle. Rules slowly tempered the danger, but at all times the melee was more dangerous than the joust.

The term melee has been extended to refer to other forms of combat such as a naval or armor battle that is fought at abnormally close range with little central control once it starts. The Battle of Trafalgar became a mêlée when the British ships broke the French and Spanish line, precipitating a ship-to-ship battle. In this instance, the mêlée was planned; Admiral Nelson used the superior fighting qualities of his crews to offset the greater French and Spanish numbers.

Melee is occasionally used to describe disorganized groups of people and vehicles, such as mobs, mosh pits, and traffic jams.

It is also used in sport. For example, the Australian Football League has an official (and somewhat controversial) melee rule which is used to fine players involved in on-field brawls, regardless of whether they throw punches or are simply pulling their teammates away from the fight.

"Melee" (pronounced "maylay") has been adopted and popularized as a gaming term to encompass all close-quarter fighting. For instance, gamers will refer to "melee attacks" as opposed to "ranged attacks" in the context of first person shooter, real-time tactics or computer role-playing games.

The GameCube iteration of Super Smash Brothers Melee, which is a series of fighting games from Nintendo, is titled Melee. "Melee" is also the colloquial abbreviation of this game by fans.

• Mêlée weapon
• List of Mêlée weapons
• Mêlée (band)
• Mêlée Island
• Hastilude
• Hand-to-hand combat
• Close Quarters Battle