rugger

C2+ Topic:Sports & Fitness

US /ˈrʌɡɚ/ UK /ˈrʌɡə/ See IPA manual

Meanings

1

noun
an informal British term for the game of rugby

The boys spent every Saturday playing rugger in the mud.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 noun · an informal british term... rugby football

Word family

Related forms rugby

Simplified etymology

Rugger was coined at Oxford University in the 1890s as an informal name for rugby. It reflects a contemporary student fashion for shortening words and adding -er, a practice that had begun at Rugby School.

Etymology

A late-19th-century British slang formation from Rugby (the game, named after Rugby School) + the Oxford '-er' suffix (as in 'soccer' from association).

Topics

Sports & Fitness Word Formation & Derivatives Register & Style

External links

# rugger

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2+
**Part of speech:** noun
**IPA (US):** /ˈrʌɡɚ/
**IPA (UK):** /ˈrʌɡə/

## Meanings
1. an informal British term for the game of rugby

## Examples
- The boys spent every Saturday playing rugger in the mud.

## Synonyms
- rugby
- football

## Related Forms
- rugby

## Etymology
A late-19th-century British slang formation from Rugby (the game, named after Rugby School) + the Oxford '-er' suffix (as in 'soccer' from association).

## AI Etymology
Rugger is a late-19th-century British slang formation from Rugby (the game, named after Rugby School) + the Oxford '-er' suffix (as in 'soccer' from association). The quoted older senses, "-er" and "soccer", supply the semantic anchors for rugger. The formation is best read as suffixal and compound: the word rugger carries its older form-history into a compact English lexical shape. In present English it is used as a noun, "an informal British term for the game of rugby". Related English forms include rugby. The result is a noun whose etymology preserves both the older form and the later English specialization.

## Topics
- Sports & Fitness
- Word Formation & Derivatives
- Register & Style

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