Word for Wednesday: Hockey

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Our Word for Wednesday theme for June is sports. 

The Spellzone dictionary defines sport as ‘an active diversion requiring physical exertion and competition’. The word dates to the early-fifteenth century when it meant ‘pleasant pastime’. Sport was a shortening of the Anglo-French ‘disport’ meaning ‘activity that offers amusement or reaction’. 

So far we’ve looked at the words  badminton and tennis and today’s word of the week is hockey.

Hockey is a game in which two opposing teams use curved sticks to drive a ball into the opponents’ net. The game can be played on an open field (field hockey) or an ice rink (ice hockey).

The word dates to 1527 when it appeared in a document from Ireland: ‘The horlinge of the litill balle with hockie stickes or staves...’. While the origin of hockey unknown, the word could be related to the Middle French ‘hoquet’ which means ‘shepherd's staff’ (diminutive of Old French ‘hoc’ meaning ‘hook’) because of the shape of the stick used to play. 


17 Jun 2020
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