Where does “footballer” come from?
Footballer derives from English football plus the agent suffix -er, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European bʰleh₃-, meaning to swell or bloom.
footballer (English): One who plays association football; Any fish in...
Definitions
- One who plays association football; Any fish in...
Ancestry of “footballer”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | football | A sport played on foot in which teams attempt to... |
| 2 | Middle English | fotbal | football game played with a ball; ancestor of soccer, American football, and rugby |
| 3 | Middle English | bal | A ball; A rounded or spherical lump or bump,... |
| 4 | Old English | beall | ball |
| 5 | English | beal | A small inflammatory tumor; pustule; To gather... |
| 6 | Old English | hyll | hill |
| 7 | Albanian | hulli | furrow |
| 8 | Proto-Germanic | hulliz | hill |
| 9 | Proto-Indo-European | kl̥Hnís | hill |
| 10 | Proto-Indo-European | kelH- | to rise, to be tall; hill |