νικάω I win, am victorious, vanquish, defeatEasy to remember νικάω, νικῶ. Nike sports equipment makes us victorious, gives us "victory" : ἡ νίκη, τῆς νίκης
* Note This looks like a mistake, but it isn't. It is because the infinitive ending ειν is actually a contraction itself of ε + ε becoming ει. So we get a double contraction, first stem νικά + ε + εν becomes νικά + εν becomes νικᾶν The same does happen with -ε contractions, though it looks like there was just one normal contraction of έ + ειν becoming εῖν. For the simple reason that: πονέ + ε + εν first becomes πονεί, then + εν becomes πονεῖν |