athlete

A2 Topic:Sports & Fitness

US /ˈæθ.lit/ UK /ˈæθ.liːt/ See IPA manual

Freq #8026

Meanings

1

noun
A person who is good at sports and competes in them.

She is the first athlete in her sport to win a corporate sponsor.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 noun · a person who is good at... jock

More competitor pro sportsmansportspersonsportswoman

Opposites

nonathlete

Word family

Forms athletes

Derived forms athletehoodathleticismathletocracybiathletecyberathletedecathletee-athleteethleteheptathletemathletenonathletepara-athlete

Related forms athletic athletics

Etymology

From Middle English athlete, from Latin āthlēta (and probably also partly from Middle French athlete), from Ancient Greek ἀθλητής (athlētḗs), from ἀθλέω (athléō, “compete for a prize”), from ἆθλον (âthlon, “prize”) or ἆθλος (âthlos, “competition”).

*h₂weh₁- Proto-Indo-European athlete Middle English āthlēta Latin ἀθλητής Ancient Greek

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Sports & Fitness

External links

# athlete

**Type:** Word
**Level:** A2
**Part of speech:** noun
**IPA (US):** /ˈæθ.lit/
**IPA (UK):** /ˈæθ.liːt/
**Frequency rank:** 8026

## Meanings
1. A person who is good at sports and competes in them.

## Examples
- She is the first athlete in her sport to win a corporate sponsor.

## Synonyms
- competitor
- jock
- pro
- sportsman
- sportsperson
- sportswoman

## Antonyms
- nonathlete

## Derived Forms
- athletehood
- athleticism
- athletocracy
- biathlete
- cyberathlete
- decathlete
- e-athlete
- ethlete
- heptathlete
- mathlete
- nonathlete
- para-athlete

## Related Forms
- athletic
- athletics

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: *h₂weh₁-
- Root: athlete
- Root: āthlēta
- Root: ἀθλητής

## Etymology
From Middle English athlete, from Latin āthlēta (and probably also partly from Middle French athlete), from Ancient Greek ἀθλητής (athlētḗs), from ἀθλέω (athléō, “compete for a prize”), from ἆθλον (âthlon, “prize”) or ἆθλος (âthlos, “competition”).

## AI Etymology
Athlete comes from Middle English athlete, from Latin āthlēta (and probably also partly from Middle French athlete), from Ancient Greek ἀθλητής (athlētḗs), from ἀθλέω (athléō, “compete for a prize”), from ἆθλον (âthlon, “prize”) or ἆθλος (âthlos, “competition”). The historical line also includes Proto-Indo-European *h₂weh₁-.

## Topics
- Sports & Fitness

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