soccer English · revision 4937

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=clipping|attested=1889|origins=en association}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: UK /ˈsɒk.ə/, US /ˈsɑː.kɚ/^(Roach et al. 2011)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is a shortening of Assoc., the abbreviation of [[association]] in the name Association football, with the jocular suffix [[-er]],^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988)^(Cresswell 2021) originally British university slang.^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988) Rugger for [[rugby]] was formed the same way.^(Cresswell 2021)^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Football played under Association rules: 1889 as socca, later socker (1891) and soccer (1895),^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988)^(OED 1989) in MWU 1885.^(MWU 2024)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Association football was the official name given in the late 19th century to distinguish the game from rugby football.^(Cresswell 2021) The Daily Telegraph drew attention to the word in 1899 in an article on Oxford slang, widely reprinted in the United States.^(Etymonline) In the United States the game was so called by 1905, when Ivy League universities and clubs on Philadelphia's Main Line played under Association rules, and the word was used there to distinguish it from American football.^(Etymonline) Similar Oxford slang of the 1890s gave fresher, brekkers and leccer.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1889 – socca.^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1891 – socker.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1895 – soccer.^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1905 – in American use.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A game played by two teams of eleven players who try to kick a round [[ball]] into the other team's goal; [[football]].^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[soccer mom]]

+ * [[indoor soccer]]

+ * [[table soccer]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[rugger]]

+ * [[association]]

+ * [[football]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}