# soccer

Pronunciation: US say "SOK-ur" /ˈsɑk.ɚ/; UK say "SOK-uh" /ˈsɒk.ə/

## Noun

1. The game of association football, played by two teams who try to kick a round ball into the opposing goal. *(Australia, Ireland, Philippines, US)*
   - Simple: A game where two teams kick a round ball and try to score goals.
   - _Soccer draws enormous television audiences across Europe and South America._
   - _Their school added soccer to its list of fall sports._

## Verb

2. To kick the ball directly off the ground with the foot, rather than handling it with the hands.
   - Simple: To kick the ball straight off the ground, without picking it up with your hands.
   - _The midfielder soccered the loose ball through for a goal._
   - _When tackled near the boundary, players often soccer the ball forward to a teammate._

## Origin

Originally British English, formed as an abbreviation of "association football": taking "assoc." and adding the suffix "-er". Earlier forms include "socker" (1885) and "socca" (1889), with "soccer" attested in 1888, alongside similar coinages of the period such as "rugger" and "footer".

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/soccer (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).