gymnastics

B1 Topic:Describing People

US /dʒɪmˈnæstɪks/ UK /d͡ʒɪmˈnæs.tɪks/ See IPA manual

Freq #13462

Meanings

1

noun
A sport involving physical exercises that show strength, balance, and flexibility.

She has practised gymnastics since she was five.
2

noun
Clever or complicated mental or physical efforts.

It took some impressive mental gymnastics to explain his mistake.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 noun · a sport involving physical... gymnastic exercise

Word family

Derived forms hydrogymnasticsmentasticsslimnasticsswimnastics

Related forms gym gymnasium gymnast gymnastic

Etymology

From gymnastic: see -ics; from Latin gymnasticus, from Ancient Greek γυμναστικός (gumnastikós), from γυμναστής (gumnastḗs, “athlete, gymnast”), from γῠμνᾰ́ζω (gŭmnắzō, “to train, exercise”), from γυμνός (gumnós, “naked”), because Greek athletes trained naked. By surface analysis, gymnast + -ics.

*negʷ- Proto-Indo-European gymnasticus Latin γυμναστικός Ancient Greek

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# gymnastics

**Type:** Word
**Level:** B1
**Part of speech:** noun
**IPA (US):** /dʒɪmˈnæstɪks/
**IPA (UK):** /d͡ʒɪmˈnæs.tɪks/
**Frequency rank:** 13462

## Meanings
1. A sport involving physical exercises that show strength, balance, and flexibility.
2. Clever or complicated mental or physical efforts.

## Examples
- She has practised gymnastics since she was five.
- It took some impressive mental gymnastics to explain his mistake.

## Derived Forms
- hydrogymnastics
- mentastics
- slimnastics
- swimnastics

## Related Forms
- gym
- gymnasium
- gymnast
- gymnastic

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: *negʷ-
- Root: gymnasticus
- Root: γυμναστικός

## Etymology
From gymnastic: see -ics; from Latin gymnasticus, from Ancient Greek γυμναστικός (gumnastikós), from γυμναστής (gumnastḗs, “athlete, gymnast”), from γῠμνᾰ́ζω (gŭmnắzō, “to train, exercise”), from γυμνός (gumnós, “naked”), because Greek athletes trained naked. By surface analysis, gymnast + -ics.

## AI Etymology
Gymnastics comes from gymnastic: see -ics; from Latin gymnasticus, from Ancient Greek γυμναστικός (gumnastikós), from γυμναστής (gumnastḗs, “athlete, gymnast”), from γῠμνᾰ́ζω (gŭmnắzō, “to train, exercise”), from γυμνός (gumnós, “naked”), because Greek athletes trained naked. By surface analysis, gymnast + -ics. The analysis is mainly morphological: the modern nominal form is built from the named base and affix. The historical line also includes *negʷ- (Proto-Indo-European). In current use, the main senses are “A sport involving physical exercises that show strength, balance, and flexibility” and “Clever or complicated mental or physical efforts”.

## Topics
- Describing People

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