It’s time for our final sports-themed Word for Wednesday article. The Spellzone dictionary defines sport as ‘an active diversion requiring physical exertion and competition’. The word dates to the early-fifteenth century when it meant ‘pleasant pastime’. Sport was a shortening of the Anglo-French ‘disport’ meaning ‘activity that offers amusement or reaction’. So far, we’ve looked at the words badminton, tennis, and hockey. Our chosen word today is lacrosse. Lacrosse is based on games played within many North American Indigenous communities and is the oldest organised sport playe...
Our Word for Wednesday theme for June is sports. The Spellzone dictionary defines sport as ‘an active diversion requiring physical exertion and competition’. The word dates to the early-fifteenth century when it meant ‘pleasant pastime’. Sport was a shortening of the Anglo-French ‘disport’ meaning ‘activity that offers amusement or reaction’. So far we’ve looked at the words badminton and tennis and today’s word of the week is hockey. Hockey is a game in which two opposing teams use curved sticks to drive a ball into the opponents’ net. The ...
Our Word for Wednesday theme for June is sports. The Spellzone dictionary defines sport as ‘an active diversion requiring physical exertion and competition’. The word dates to the early-fifteenth century when it meant ‘pleasant pastime’. Sport was a shortening of the Anglo-French ‘disport’ meaning ‘activity that offers amusement or reaction’. Last we looked at the word badminton, and today’s word of the week is tennis. Tennis is a game played with rackets by two or four players who hit a ball back and forth over a net that divides the court. The word tennis entered...
Our Word for Wednesday theme for June is sports. The Spellzone dictionary defines sport as ‘an active diversion requiring physical exertion and competition’. The word dates to the early-fifteenth century when it meant ‘pleasant pastime’. Sport was a shortening of the Anglo-French ‘disport’ meaning ‘activity that offers amusement or reaction’. Our first sports-themed word of the month is badminton. Badminton is a court-based game in which players use light long-handled rackets to volley a shuttlecock over a net. While people also play on indoor courts (so that the game is not affected by wind conditions), badminton is ...
I am not a cricket person, but my family are a cricket family. This means that for the duration of the World Cup my family group chat will read more like a sports commentary. Since I was Googling the rules of the game anyway, I thought I might as well investigate the origins of the word too. Cricket is a homonym – it has multiple meanings. In one context it describes a grasshopper-like insect, and in another it refers to the ball game my family are so obsessed with. The word is also sometimes used to describe a type of footstool. In reference to the insect, cricket dates back to around 1500 and comes from the Old French ‘criquer’ meaning ‘to creak , rattle, crac...
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