paralympian
/ˌpæ.ɹəˈlɪm.pi.ən/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.32 in modern English
20
Scrabble Score
11
Letters
5
Syllables
8
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
One who competes in the Paralympic Games.
adj
Of or pertaining to a Paralympian (“one who competes in the Paralympic Games”).
adj
Of or pertaining to the Paralympic Games; Paralympic.
Example Sentences
- "DICK MADURO … Paralympian"
- "These are the "Paralympians," the wheelchair athletes of the world, whose own Olympics will be held in Tokyo immediately after the regular Olympiad. […] I spoke to two young Paralympians from the Long Beach area the other day, Frank Vecera and Bill Johnson. "I am only half here," Frank Vecera confided. He smiled when he said it."
- "Our athletes, Olympians and Paralympians, joined together in April to represent the 1994 U.S. Olympic Team in a visit to President [Bill] Clinton at the White House."
- "In the summer of 1996, our nation cheered the performance and achievements of the U.S. women Olympians and Paralympians. The images of strong, active women were inspiring, a long way from the days when females were relegated to "lady-like" sports and young girls were left on the sidelines while their brothers played."
- "Marla [Runyan] has been legally blind for more than 20 years. Marla ran the 1500-meter race at the Sydney Summer Olympics in 2000 to finish eighth, while becoming the first Paralympian to compete in the Olympics."
- "The lighting ceremonies mark the start of the biggest Paralympics in history, which will see 4,200 Paralympians from 165 nations compete in London in sports including wheelchair racing, athletics, blind football and wheelchair rugby, and pit their wills against the finest talents in the world."
Etymology
From Paralympic + -ian (suffix with the sense ‘having a certain profession’ forming nouns, or with the sense ‘from, like, or related to’ forming adjectives). Paralympic is a blend of paraplegic + Olympic; the Paralympic Games were originally organized for persons with paraplegia from spinal injuries, but are now participated in by sportspersons with all kinds of disabilities.
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˌpæ.ɹəˈlɪm.pi.ən/
- British English: /ˌpæ.ɹəˈlɪm.pɪ.ən/
Subject
Wiktionary places this term in Sports.