To fight, in Hebrew, is the simple verb לריב

.

For example:

ילדים, למה אתם רבים?

Kids, why are you fighting?

Likewise, a fight of the level these kids are engaged in is ריב

– it involves heightened emotions, maybe some shouting. Another word for this is מריבה

, as in:

שוב יש מריבה בין השכנים.

Again there’s a fight among the neighbors.

All of the above words come from the root ר.י.ב

, and all describe a mid-level fight, a quarrel. On the more extreme ends of the spectrum are ויכוח

meaning “argument” and להתווכח

(a התפעל verb) meaning “to argue” on one end, and on the other end, מלחמה

– “war” and להילחם

(a נפעל verb) – “to battle”.

Another word for a quarrel that sometimes reaches violence is קטטה

.