The story
- Ancient Greek · derived fromἀθλητής
- Middle French · derived fromathlete
- Latin · derived fromāthlēta
- Middle English · inherited fromathlete
- English todayathlete
From Middle English athlete, from Latin āthlēta (and probably also partly from Middle French athlete), from Ancient Greek ἀθλητής (athlētḗs), from ἀθλέω (athléō, “compete for a prize”), from ἆθλον (âthlon, “prize”) or ἆθλος (âthlos, “competition”).
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.