From Persian 'shah mat' (the king is helpless) — transmitted through Arabic and French as chess spread from Persia.
A position in chess in which a player's king is directly attacked by an opponent's piece and has no possible escape, ending the game; by extension, a final defeat or deadlock from which there is no escape.
From Old French 'eschec mat,' from Arabic 'al-shāh māt' (الشاه مات), from Persian 'shāh māt' (شاه مات), meaning 'the king is helpless' or 'the king is dead.' 'Shāh' means 'king' (the same word that gave English 'shah' and 'chess' via 'check') and 'māt' means 'helpless,' 'defeated,' or 'dead.' The phrase entered Arabic when chess was transmitted from Persia to the Arab world following the Muslim conquest of the Sasanian Empire in the seventh century. Key