Etymologically
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baseball

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 15 October 2026 at 23:54. This address is a permanent link to this version.
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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /ˈbeɪs.bɔːl/[1]

Etymology

It is a compound, from English base + ball,[2][3][4] with base in the sense of a goal or safe place.[4][2] Base was used for the start or finish line of a race from the 1690s, and for the safe spot in games like tag from the 15th century.[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The word is first found in A Little Pretty Pocket-Book, published in London in 1744,[3] and in Jane Austen's Northanger Abbey (written about 1798–1803, the OED's first quotation about 1815),[5][3] but these refer to a game like rounders, of which baseball is a more elaborate form.[3][2] The modern American game of teams of nine is from 1845 in Etymonline and MWU,[2][4] and 1850 in Barnhart.[3]

Semantic evolution

A rounders-like game was played by New England colonists in the 18th century.[3] The story that Abner Doubleday invented baseball at Cooperstown, New York, in 1839 is generally held to be a legend.[3][2] The ball used in the game is called a baseball by 1885,[2] and the use of base for the bags on the field is from 1868.[2] Compounds such as baseball club and baseball player are from 1855.[5]

Timeline

  • 1744 – baseball, of a rounders-like game.[3]
  • c. 1815 – in Jane Austen.[5]
  • 1845 – the modern American game.[2][4]
  • 1855 – baseball club, baseball player.[5]
  • 1868 – base for the bags.[2]
  • 1885 – the ball used in the game.[2]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. A game played with a bat and ball by two teams of nine players, who score by running round four bases laid out in a diamond.
  2. The ball used in this game.

Word family

  • baseballer
  • baseball cap
  • baseball glove
  • indoor baseball

References

  1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  4. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  5. ^ a b c d Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press