soccer

English Online Dictionary. What means soccer‎? What does soccer mean?

English

Alternative forms

• socker, socca

Etymology

Originally British English; as an abbreviation for association football, via abbreviation assoc. +‎ -er (suffix); earlier socker (1885), also socca (1889), with soccer attested 1888.

Compare contemporary rugger, from Rugby. Similarly constructed coinages from the same period include: brekker (“breakfast”), fresher (“freshman”) and footer (“football”). See Oxford -er.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈsɒk.ə/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈsɑk.ɚ/
• Rhymes: -ɒkə(ɹ)

Noun

soccer (uncountable)

1. (originated, late 19th C, now often US, Australia, Ireland, Philippines, and other countries; see usage notes) Association football.

   Synonyms: (UK, formal, rarely used) association football, soccer, (ambiguous) football; see also Thesaurus:football

Usage notes

• Since the 1990s, football has become more commonly used in the UK and in some other countries where Association football is the most popular football game, including English-speaking territories in Africa, the Caribbean and South Asia, as well as for some English-as-a-second-language (ESL) speakers worldwide. Countries where another type of football sport (or a different football 'code') is more popular are likely to use soccer. These include US, Canada, South Africa, Ireland and some other countries (see here). Both football and soccer are used in Australia and New Zealand, although football also refers to other codes in these countries.
• soccer was widely used in the UK until the 1990s, although sometimes perceived as upper class or snobbish. Since then, the term has come to be seen as an Americanism (possibly due to media coverage of the 1994 FIFA World Cup hosted in the US and the rise of Major League Soccer) and its usage has declined significantly. The word is still encountered in the UK in some legacy contexts, such as the title of the show Soccer Saturday, but otherwise its use is often criticized as inauthentic or incorrect which has reversed the erstwhile snobbery.

Derived terms

Related terms

• rugger

Descendants

• → Afrikaans: sokker
• → French: soccer
• → Irish: sacar
• → Japanese: サッカー (sakkā)
• → Kannada: ಸಾಕರ್ (sākar)
• → Manx: soccar

Translations

Verb

soccer (third-person singular simple present soccers, present participle soccering, simple past and past participle soccered)

1. (Australian rules football) To kick the football directly off the ground, without using one's hands.

References

Further reading

• soccer on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Association football on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• Croces, escroc, scorce

French

Etymology

From English soccer.

Pronunciation

• (Europe) IPA^(key): /sɔ.kœʁ/
• (Canada, Missouri, New England, Louisiana) IPA^(key): /sɔ.kɚ/, /sɔ.kœ˞/, /sɔ.kaœ̯ʁ/

Noun

soccer m (uncountable)

1. (North America) soccer (association football)

   Synonym: football m

See also

• football américain
• football canadien

Anagrams

• escroc