Etymology

gymnastics

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Today it means: A sport involving the performance of sequences of movements requiring physical strength, flexibility, and kinesthetic awareness. Full definition →

Latin gymnasticus ← Ancient Greek γυμναστικός
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The story

  1. Ancient Greek · derived fromγυμναστικός
  2. Latin · derived fromgymnasticus
  3. English todaygymnastics

From gymnastic: see -ics; from Latin gymnasticus, from Ancient Greek γυμναστικός (gumnastikós), from γυμναστής (gumnastḗs, “athlete, gymnast”), from γῠμνᾰ́ζω (gŭmnắzō, “to train, exercise”), from γυμνός (gumnós, “naked”), because Greek athletes trained naked. By surface analysis, gymnast + -ics.

Words from the same roots

Latingymnasticus all →

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.