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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

athletic.

Having to do with athletes.

8 characters3 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

adj/æθˈlɛt.ɪk/UK
  1. Having to do with athletes.

    not-comparable
    Are you a member of the American Athletic Association?
  2. Physically active.

    Since you're such an athletic person, you may wish to consider joining.
  3. Having a muscular, well developed body, being in shape.

    You have such an athletic build—you must work out regularly.
  4. An attribute of a motion or play which requires fine physical ability.

    The center fielder made an athletic play to snatch the ball from over the fence.
  5. Of a level in a Super Mario game: with an emphasis on platforming challenge, often involving precise jumps between floating platforms above a bottomless pit, and having upbeat background music.

Where this word comes from

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₂weh₁-der. Proto-Indo-European *-tḗr Proto-Indo-European *-tromder. Ancient Greek ἆθλον (âthlon) Ancient Greek ᾱ̓θλέω (āthléō) Proto-Hellenic *-tās Ancient Greek -τής (-tḗs) Ancient Greek ἀθλητής (athlētḗs) Proto-Indo-European *-kos Proto-Hellenic *-kos Ancient Greek -κός (-kós) Ancient Greek -ικός (-ikós) Ancient Greek ᾱ̓θλητῐκός (āthlētĭkós)bor. Latin āthlēticuslbor. Middle French athletiquebor. English athletic Borrowed from Middle French athletique and Latin āthlēticus, from Ancient Greek ἀθλητικός (athlētikós, “relating to an athlete”), from ἀθλητής (athlētḗs, “athlete”): equivalent to athlete + -ic. For more, see athlete. The Super Mario sense is effectively a reborrowing of Japanese アスレチック (asurechikku, “obstacle course”), originally borrowed from English athletic; this sense was itself originally a clipping of the genericized wasei eigo trademark フィールドアスレチック (fīrudo asurechikku, “Field Athletic”).

noun/æθˈlɛt.ɪk/UK
  1. A muscular, large–boned person, in the typology of Ernst Kretschmer.

Where this word comes from

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₂weh₁-der. Proto-Indo-European *-tḗr Proto-Indo-European *-tromder. Ancient Greek ἆθλον (âthlon) Ancient Greek ᾱ̓θλέω (āthléō) Proto-Hellenic *-tās Ancient Greek -τής (-tḗs) Ancient Greek ἀθλητής (athlētḗs) Proto-Indo-European *-kos Proto-Hellenic *-kos Ancient Greek -κός (-kós) Ancient Greek -ικός (-ikós) Ancient Greek ᾱ̓θλητῐκός (āthlētĭkós)bor. Latin āthlēticuslbor. Middle French athletiquebor. English athletic Borrowed from Middle French athletique and Latin āthlēticus, from Ancient Greek ἀθλητικός (athlētikós, “relating to an athlete”), from ἀθλητής (athlētḗs, “athlete”): equivalent to athlete + -ic. For more, see athlete. The Super Mario sense is effectively a reborrowing of Japanese アスレチック (asurechikku, “obstacle course”), originally borrowed from English athletic; this sense was itself originally a clipping of the genericized wasei eigo trademark フィールドアスレチック (fīrudo asurechikku, “Field Athletic”).

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Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.