Etymology

basketball

B3A1S1K5E1T1B3A1L1L1

Today it means: A sport in which two opposing teams of five players strive to put a ball through a hoop. Full definition →

English ball ← Middle English bal ← Old English *beall
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The story

  1. Proto-Celtic*baskis
  2. Late Latinbascauda
  3. Anglo-Normanbascat
  4. Middle Englishbasket
  5. Englishbasket
  6. Proto-Indo-European*bʰel-
  7. Proto-Germanic*balluz
  8. Old English*beall
  9. Middle Englishbal
  10. Englishball
  11. English todaybasketball

From basket + ball.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.