cheerleader

Etymology

It is formed from English cheer + leader.^[2][3][4] It is an Americanism.^[3][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

A person who leads cheers of acclamation or encouragement: 1890, in the Boston Daily Globe.^[2] Etymonline dates the word to 1900,^[3] Merriam-Webster to 1903,^[5][6] and Dictionary.com to 1900–05.^[4]

Semantic evolution

From someone who led a crowd's cheers the word was narrowed by 1896 to a member of a team performing set cheers, chants and, later, dances or acrobatic routines at games; the OED notes that such teams were at first made up of young men and are now mostly young women.^[2] Hendrickson says that the first to bear the name officially seem to have been those who cheered on the University of Chicago football team coached by Amos Stagg.^[7] Cheerleading is recorded from 1906.^[3] From 1924 the word was used figuratively for an enthusiastic supporter or advocate of a person or cause,^[2][8] sometimes, as the American Heritage Dictionary notes, of someone who praises without thinking.^[9] The verb cheerlead came later.^[2][6]

Timeline

• 1890 – a person who leads cheers.^[2]
• 1896 – a member of a team performing organized cheers at sports events.^[2]
• 1906 – cheerleading.^[3]
• 1924 – an enthusiastic supporter of a person or cause.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A person who leads a crowd in organized cheers, especially one of a team that chants, dances and performs routines at a sports event.^[8][5][2]
2. An enthusiastic, vocal supporter of a person, cause or idea: She became a cheerleader for the new library.^[8][2]
3. Someone who gives uncritical praise; an adulator.^[9]

Word family

• cheerleading
• cheerlead

Related words

• cheer
• leader

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
5. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ Hendrickson, Robert (2008), The Facts on File Encyclopedia of Word and Phrase Origins, 4th ed., New York: Facts on File
8. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
9. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin