Etymology

player

play·er
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Today it means: One who plays any game or sport. Full definition →

Middle English pleyere ← Old English pleġere ← Proto-West Germanic *plegōn
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The story

  1. Proto-West Germanic*plegō
  2. Proto-West Germanic*plegōn
  3. Old Englishplegian
  4. Old Englishpleġere
  5. Middle Englishpleyere
  6. English todayplayer

From Middle English pleyere, pleyer, from Old English pleġere (“player, athlete, wrestler”), from Proto-West Germanic *plegārī. Equivalent to play + -er.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.