Where does “gameplay” come from?
Gameplay is a modern English formation from play and the suffix -age, ultimately deriving from Middle English pleȝen and Latin placere, meaning "to please."
gameplay (English): The totality of player experiences during a game,...
Definitions
- The totality of player experiences during a game,...
Ancestry of “gameplay”, step by step
gameplay traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.
via English game
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | game | A playful or competitive activity; A video game;... |
| 2 | Middle English | game | Entertainment or an instance of it; that which is... |
| 3 | Old English | gamen | game, sport, or pastime; joy, mirth, or pleasure |
| 4 | Proto-West Germanic | gaman | pleasure, fun, amusement, entertainment |
| 5 | Proto-Germanic | gamaną | a fellow human, associate, companion; pleasure,... |
| 6 | Proto-Germanic | ga- | Indicates association or togetherness; co-;... |
| 7 | Proto-Indo-European | ḱóm | beside, near, by, with |
| 8 | Proto-Indo-European | ḱe | Deictic particle, here; Post-positional... |
| 9 | Middle English | kyt | — |
| 10 | German | kitt | putty certain kinds of cement used for fixing e.g. window panes |
| 11 | Old High German | kuti | — |
| 12 | Proto-West Germanic | kwidu | gum, resin |
| 13 | Proto-Germanic | kweduz | resin |
| 14 | Proto-Indo-European | gʷet- | resin, gum; to say, speak |
| 15 | Proto-Indo-European | gū- | to bend; curve; arch; vault; to bow, bend, arch,... |
via English play
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | play | To act in a manner such that one has fun; to... |
| 2 | Middle English | pleye | Happiness, mirth, jolliness, or gaiety; Fun,... |
| 3 | Old English | pleġa | exercise |
| 4 | Proto-West Germanic | plegō | care; an exercise; a game |
| 5 | Proto-West Germanic | -ō | Creates adverbs from adjectives; Creates agent... |
| 6 | Proto-Germanic | -ô | -ly; Forms agent nouns, often from the zero-grade... |
| 7 | Proto-Indo-European | -ō | Derives nouns from roots |