ball

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   A round object used in games and sports, which is thrown, hit, or kicked.

   He kicked the ball into the net.

2. 2
   noun

   Something formed into a round shape.

   She rolled the dough into a ball.

3. 3
   noun

   A large formal event where people dance.

   They danced all night at the royal ball.

Appears in

Simplified etymology

Ball in the sense of a round object comes from an old Scandinavian word and has been used in English since the Middle Ages. The word for a formal dance is unrelated: it came through French from Latin ballare, “to dance,” also the source of ballad and ballet. Ball acquired anatomical and slang senses later, including “testicle” in the 13th century, “nonsense” in the Victorian period, and “courage” in the early 20th century.

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *bʰel- Proto-Germanic *balluz Old English *beall Middle English bal English ball From Middle English bal, ball, balle, from an unattested Old English *beall, *bealla (“round object, ball”) or Old Norse bǫllr (“a ball”), both from Proto-Germanic *balluz, *ballô (“ball”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰol-n- (“ball, bubble”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰel- (“to blow, inflate, swell”). Cognate with Old Saxon ball, Dutch bal, Old High German bal, ballo (German Ball (“ball”); Ballen (“bale”)). Related forms in Romance are borrowings from Germanic. See also balloon,…

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External links

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• Cambridge Dictionary
• Wiktionary