Meanings
nounplayoff (plural playoffs)
plural playoffs · alternative play-off
- UKA short series of games to select the last team to be promoted (to elevate to a higher league).
- A short piece of underscore played during a scene transition in a stage musical, usually reprising a song from the preceding scene.
Origin
Deverbal from play off; by surface analysis, play + -off.
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Bulgarian плейоф, мач на елиминация
- плейоф (plejof)series game
- мач на елиминация (mač na eliminacija)series game
Chinese Mandarin 季後賽 /季后赛, 附加賽 /附加赛
- 季後賽 /季后赛 (jìhòusài)series game
- 附加賽 /附加赛 (fùjiāsài)series game
Czech baráž
- barážseries game
Finnish pudotuspelit, pudotuspeli
- pudotuspelitseries game
- pudotuspeliseries game
Japanese プレーオフ
- プレーオフ (purēofu)series game
Korean 플레이오프
- 플레이오프 (peulleiopeu)series game
Polish baraż, repasaż
- barażseries game
- repasażseries game
- repesażseries game
Portuguese play-off, playoff
- play-offseries game
- playoffseries game
Russian плей-офф
- плей-офф (plej-off)series game
Slovak baráž
- barážseries game
Spanish playoff, eliminatoria
- playoffseries game
- eliminatoriaseries game
Swedish utslagsmatch, playoff-match
- utslagsmatchseries game
- playoff-matchseries game
Cite this entry
APA
playoff. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/playoff
MLA
“playoff.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/playoff. Accessed November 3, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “playoff,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/playoff.
Source: playoff on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.