non-league

adjective

Playing in a division below The Football League, being amateur or semi-professional teams.

OriginEnglish league ← Middle English non- ← Old English nān- →
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Meanings

adjectivenon-league (not comparable)
  1. UKnot comparableball gamesPlaying in a division below The Football League, being amateur or semi-professional teams.

    Crawley missed two penalties but still edged out League Two Torquay to become the first non-league side to reach the FA Cup fifth round for 17 years.

    2011 January 29, Chris Bevan, “Torquay 0 - 1 Crawley Town”, in BBC

Origin

  1. Proto-Indo-European*né
  2. Proto-Germanic*ne
  3. Proto-Indo-European*ís?
  4. Proto-Indo-European*h₁óynos
  5. Proto-Germanic*ainaz
  6. Proto-Germanic*nainaz
  7. Proto-West Germanic*nain
  8. Old Englishnān
  9. Middle Englishnon
  10. Old Englishnān
  11. Old Englishnān-
  12. Middle Englishnon-
  13. Englishnon-
  14. Englishleague
  15. Englishnon-league

From non- + league.

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

non-league. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/non-league

MLA

“non-league.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/non-league. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “non-league,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/non-league.

Source: non-league on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.