athletic
/æθˈlɛt.ɪk/
Word Rarity
Uncommon
Frequency: 4.12 in modern English
13
Scrabble Score
8
Letters
3
Syllables
7
Unique Chars
Meaning
adj
Example Sentences
- "Are you a member of the American Athletic Association?"
- "Since you're such an athletic person, you may wish to consider joining."
- "An athletic kid from New Jersey, Fischer was known as a bold risk taker — they called him “the fallingest man in climbing” — until an old-school cragger taught him the Zen of controlled ascent."
- "You have such an athletic build—you must work out regularly."
- "The center fielder made an athletic play to snatch the ball from over the fence."
- "An athletic course in which Mario must traverse rotating lifts and stretch blocks."
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₂weh₁-der. Proto-Indo-European *-tḗr Proto-Indo-European *-tromder. Ancient Greek ἆθλον (âthlon) Ancient Greek ᾱ̓θλέω (āthléō) Proto-Hellenic *-tās Ancient Greek -τής (-tḗs) Ancient Greek ἀθλητής (athlētḗs) Proto-Indo-European *-kos Proto-Hellenic *-kos Ancient Greek -κός (-kós) Ancient Greek -ικός (-ikós) Ancient Greek ᾱ̓θλητῐκός (āthlētĭkós)bor. Latin āthlēticuslbor. Middle French athletiquebor. English athletic Borrowed from Middle French athletique and Latin āthlēticus, from Ancient Greek ἀθλητικός (athlētikós, “relating to an athlete”), from ἀθλητής (athlētḗs, “athlete”): equivalent to athlete + -ic. For more, see athlete. The Super Mario sense is effectively a reborrowing of Japanese アスレチック (asurechikku, “obstacle course”), originally borrowed from English athletic; this sense was itself originally a clipping of the genericized wasei eigo trademark フィールドアスレチック (fīrudo asurechikku, “Field Athletic”).
Origin
- Source language: Latin
Word Breakdown
- Root: āthlēticus, ἀθλητικός, アスレチック
Regional Pronunciation
- British English: /æθˈlɛt.ɪk/
Usage
Inflected Forms
more athletic (comparative)
most athletic (superlative)
athletick (alternative, obsolete)
athletics (plural)