soccer
[ sok-er ]
/ ˈsɒk ər /
noun
a form of football played between two teams of 11 players, in which the ball may be advanced by kicking or by bouncing it off any part of the body but the arms and hands, except in the case of the goalkeepers, who may use their hands to catch, carry, throw, or stop the ball.
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When Did Football Become Soccer?If you’re reading this in the U.S. or Canada, then maybe you’re familiar with the game of soccer. If you’re reading this pretty much anywhere else, then you probably know the same game rules and call it football. But how did we end up with two words for the same sport? Let’s start in England in the 19th century. Kids played their own versions of football, however …
Why Is It Called Soccer?The most popular sport in the world is one in which people chase after a ball and kick it with their feet (and give it an occasional head-butt). In most places where this sport is enjoyed it is referred to in a straightforward fashion: football. No matter whether the language is Spanish (fútbol), French (football), German (fußball), Icelandic (fótbolta), Albanian (futboll), or Dutch (voetbal), you …
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Origin of soccer
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019
Examples from the Web for soccer
British Dictionary definitions for soccer
soccer
/ (ˈsɒkə) /
noun
- a game in which two teams of eleven players try to kick or head a ball into their opponent's goal, only the goalkeeper on either side being allowed to touch the ball with his hands and arms except in the case of throw-ins
- (as modifier)a soccer player
Word Origin for soccer
C19: from (as) soc. + -er
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for soccer
soccer
1889, socca, later socker (1891), soccer (1895), originally university slang (with jocular formation -er (3)), from a shortened form of Assoc., abbreviation of association in Football Association (as opposed to Rugby football); cf. rugger. An unusual method of formation, but those who did it perhaps shied away from making a name out of the first three letters of Assoc.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper