First Known Use: 1885
Dictionary
soccer
noun soc·cer \ˈsä-kər\
: a game played between two teams of 11 players in which a round ball is moved toward a goal usually by kicking
Full Definition of SOCCER
: a game played on a field between two teams of 11 players each with the object to propel a round ball into the opponent's goal by kicking or by hitting it with any part of the body except the hands and arms —called also association football
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Origin of SOCCER
by shortening & alteration from association football
Other Field and Goal Sports Terms
SOCCER Defined for Kids
soccer
noun soc·cer \ˈsä-kər\
Definition of SOCCER for Kids
: a game played between two teams of eleven players in which a round inflated ball is moved toward a goal usually by kicking
Word History of SOCCER
At Oxford University in England, in the 1870s, it became a fad among students to make up slang forms of everyday words by clipping them to a single syllable and then adding the meaningless suffix -er. Most of these coinages, such as footer for football, fresher for freshman, and brekker for breakfast, are unfamiliar in North American English, if they have survived at all. However, one -er coinage has become very successful in the United States: the word soccer. Soccer was shortened from association (or assoc.) football, which was the name for a game played according to the rules of the Football Association, founded in England in 1863.
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