sport

Etymology

From Middle English sporten (verb) and sport, spoort, sporte (noun), apheretic shortenings of disporten (verb) and disport, disporte (noun). More at disport.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /spɔːt/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /spɔɹt/
• (Tasmanian) IPA^(key): /spɔː/
• (rhotic, without the horse–hoarse merger) IPA^(key): /spo(ː)ɹt/
• (non-rhotic, without the horse–hoarse merger) IPA^(key): /spoət/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɔː(ɹ)t

Noun

sport (countable and uncountable, plural sports)

2. (countable) Any activity that uses physical exertion or skills competitively under a set of rules that is not based on aesthetics.
3. (countable) A person who exhibits either good or bad sportsmanship.

   Jen may have won, but she was sure a poor sport; she laughed at the loser.

   The loser was a good sport, and congratulated Jen on her performance.

4. (countable) Somebody who behaves or reacts in an admirably good-natured manner, e.g. to being teased or to losing a game; a good sport.

   You're such a sport! You never get upset when we tease you.

5. (archaic) That which diverts, and makes mirth; pastime; amusement.
   • 1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Second Part of Henry the Sixt, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies. […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene ii]:

     Think it but a minute spent in sport.

   • c. 1580 (date written), Philippe Sidnei [i.e., Philip Sidney], “[The Thirde Booke] Chapter 21”, in [Fulke Greville; Matthew Gwinne; John Florio], editors, The Countesse of Pembrokes Arcadia [The New Arcadia], London: […] [John Windet] for William Ponsonbie, published 1590, →OCLC, folio 283, recto:

     Her sports were such as carried riches of knowledge upon the stream of delight.

   • a. 1765, year of origin unknown, Hey Diddle Diddle (traditional rhyme)

     The little dog laughed to see such sport, and the dish ran away with the spoon.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:hobby

6. (archaic) Mockery, making fun; derision.
   • c. 1597 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merry Wiues of Windsor”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene iii], page 58, column 2:

     Why then make ſport at me, then let me be your ieſt

7. (countable) A toy; a plaything; an object of mockery.
   • 1697, Virgil, “The Sixth Book of the Æneis”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC:

     flitting leaves, the sport of every wind

   • a. 1676, John Clarke, On Governing the Temper:

     Never does man appear to greater disadvantage than when he is the sport of his own ungoverned passions.

8. (uncountable) Gaming for money as in racing, hunting, or fishing.
9. (biology, botany, zoology, countable) A plant or an animal, or part of a plant or animal, which has some peculiarity not usually seen in the species; an abnormal variety or growth. The term encompasses both mutants and organisms with non-genetic developmental abnormalities such as birth defects.
   • 1886 October – 1887 January, H[enry] Rider Haggard, She: A History of Adventure, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., published 1887, →OCLC:

     We never shot another like it, so I do not know if it was a `sport' or a distinct species.

   • 2014 September 26, Charles Quest-Ritson, “The Dutch garden where tulip bulbs live forever: Hortus Bulborum, a volunteer-run Dutch garden, is dedicated to conserving historic varieties before they vanish for good [print version: Inspired by a living bulb archive, 27 September 2014, p. G5]”, in The Daily Telegraph (Gardening)‎:

     At Hortus Bulborum you will find heirloom narcissi that date back at least to the 15th century and famous old tulips like 'Duc van Tol' (1595) and its sports.

10. (slang, countable) A sportsman; a gambler.
11. (slang, countable) One who consorts with disreputable people, including prostitutes.
12. (obsolete, uncountable) An amorous dalliance.
13. (informal, usually singular) A friend or acquaintance (chiefly used when speaking to the friend in question)
    • 1924 July, Ellis Butler, “The Little Tin Godlets”, in The Rotarian‎, volume 25, number 1, Rotary International, page 14:

      "Say, sport!" he would say briskly.

    Synonyms: see Thesaurus:friend

14. Term of endearment used by an adult for a child, usually a boy.

    Hey, sport! You've gotten so big since I saw you last! Give me five.

15. (archaic) Play; idle jingle.
    • 1725-1726, William Broome, The Odyssey

      An author who should introduce such a sport of words upon our stage […] would meet with small applause.

Verb

sport (third-person singular simple present sports, present participle sporting, simple past and past participle sported)

1. (intransitive) To amuse oneself, to play.

   children sporting on the green

2. (intransitive) To mock or tease, treat lightly, toy with.

   Jen sports with Bill's emotions.

   • 1663, John Tillotson, The Wisdom of being Religious:

     He sports with his own life.

3. (transitive) To display; to have as a notable feature.

   Jen's sporting a new pair of shoes;  he was sporting a new wound from the combat

   • 1951 October, R. S. McNaught, “Lines of Approach”, in Railway Magazine, page 704:

     But despite its plague of tunnels, the run-in on this route is of unusual interest to the locomotive enthusiast: besides the hordes of self-important saddle-tanks shunting in the extensive yards, there was at one time the chance of seeing those slender little North London engines, with their large outside cylinders and no visible storage place for coal, and also an occasional South Eastern locomotive sporting a lot of polished brass.

   • 2013 July 20, “Welcome to the plastisphere”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8845:

     [The researchers] noticed many of their pieces of [plastic marine] debris sported surface pits around two microns across. Such pits are about the size of a bacterial cell. Closer examination showed that some of these pits did, indeed, contain bacteria, […].

   • 2023 June 3, Carl Zimmer, “How Did Birds First Take Off?”, in The New York Times‎:

     He was especially happy to see one of the most important discoveries make it to the screen: dinosaurs that sported feathers. But judging from the emails he has been receiving, some moviegoers did not share his excitement.

4. (reflexive) To divert; to amuse; to make merry.
   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Isaiah 57:4:

     Against whom do ye sport yourselves?

5. (transitive) To represent by any kind of play.
   • 1693, Decimus Junius Juvenalis, John Dryden, transl., “[The Satires of Decimus Junius Juvenalis.] The Sixth Satyr”, in The Satires of Decimus Junius Juvenalis. Translated into English Verse. […] Together with the Satires of Aulus Persius Flaccus. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson […], →OCLC:

     Now sporting on thy lyre the loves of youth.

6. To practise the diversions of the field or the turf; to be given to betting, as upon races.
7. To assume suddenly a new and different character from the rest of the plant or from the type of the species; said of a bud, shoot, plant, or animal.
   • 1860, Charles Darwin, The Variation of Animals and Plants Under Domestication:

     more than one kind of rose has sported into a moss

8. (transitive, archaic) To close (a door).
   • 1904, M. R. James, The Mezzotint:

     There he locked it up in a drawer, sported the doors of both sets of rooms, and retired to bed.

References

• (sportsman, gambler): 1873, John Camden Hotten, The Slang Dictionary

Anagrams

• ports., Prost, -prost, -prost-, torps, ports, trops., strop, Ports, Prots

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈsport]

Noun

sport m inan

1. sport

Further reading

• “sport”, in Příruční slovník jazyka českého (in Czech), 1935–1957
• “sport”, in Slovník spisovného jazyka českého (in Czech), 1960–1971, 1989
• “sport”, in Internetová jazyková příručka (in Czech), 2008–2025

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /spɔrt/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: sport
• Rhymes: -ɔrt

Etymology 1

Borrowed from English sport, from Middle English sport, from Middle English sport, from older disport, from Old French desport. First attested in the 19th century. This etymology is incomplete. You can help Wiktionary by elaborating on the origins of this term.

Etymology 2

From Middle Dutch sporte, metathesised form of sprote. This etymology is incomplete. You can help Wiktionary by elaborating on the origins of this term.

Etymology 3

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Anagrams

• sprot, strop

Etymology

From German Sport, from English sport.

Noun

sport (genitive spordi, partitive sporti)

1. sport, sports

References

• sport in Sõnaveeb (Eesti Keele Instituut)

Etymology

Earlier 19th century, borrowed from English sport. At first also pronounced with a final /t/.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /spɔʁ/

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

sport m (plural sports)

1. sport

Further reading

• “sport”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈʃport]
• Hyphenation: sport
• Rhymes: -ort

Noun

sport (plural sportok)

1. sport

Further reading

• sport in Géza Bárczi, László Országh, et al., editors, A magyar nyelv értelmező szótára [The Explanatory Dictionary of the Hungarian Language] (ÉrtSz.), Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 1959–1962. Fifth ed., 1992: →ISBN.

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English sport. Doublet of diporto.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈspɔrt/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɔrt
• Hyphenation: spòrt

Noun

sport m (invariable)

1. sport (activity that uses physical skills, often competitive)
2. hobby, pastime

   fare qualcosa per sport ― to do something for fun

Etymology

Borrowed from English sport.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /spɔrt/

Noun

sport m inan

1. sport (athletic activity that uses physical skills)

References

• Starosta, Manfred (1999) “sport”, in Dolnoserbsko-nimski słownik / Niedersorbisch-deutsches Wörterbuch (in German), Bautzen: Domowina-Verlag

Noun

sport m (plural sports)

1. (Jersey) sport (physical activity pitting two or more opponents against each other)

Etymology 1

From English sport.

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

References

• “sport” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

Etymology

From English sport.

Noun

sport m (definite singular sporten, uncountable)

1. sport

   Synonym: idrett

References

• “sport” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

Etymology

Borrowed from English sport.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈspɔrt/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɔrt
• Syllabification: sport

Noun

sport m inan

1. sport

Further reading

• sport in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• sport in Polish dictionaries at PWN

Etymology

Borrowed from French sport.

Pronunciation

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

sport n (plural sporturi)

1. sport

Alternative forms

• špȍrt (Croatia)

Etymology

Borrowed from English sport.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /spôrt/

Noun

spȍrt m (Cyrillic spelling спо̏рт)

1. sport

Further reading

• “sport”, in Hrvatski jezični portal [Croatian language portal] (in Serbo-Croatian), 2006–2025

Etymology 1

Borrowed from English sport, first used in 1857.

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

References

• sport in Svensk ordbok (SO)
• sport in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)
• sport in Svenska Akademiens ordbok (SAOB)
• sport in Nationalencyklopedin (needs an authorization fee).

Anagrams

• ports, prost, torps

Etymology

Borrowed from Dutch sport, from English sport.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /spɔ(r)t/

Noun

sport c (plural sporten)

1. sport (physical activity)