soccer

S1O1C3C3E1R1
UK/ˈsɒk.ə/US/ˈsɑk.ɚ/

noun

Association football.

Very commonScrabble 10

Meanings

nounsoccer (uncountable)

alternative socker · alternative socca

  1. AustraliaIrelandPhilippinesUSuncountablelate 19th C; and other countries; late 19th C; and other countriesAssociation football.

    Socker (public schools), football played according to the Association Rules

    1890, Albert Barrère, Charles Leland, A Dictionary of Slang, Jargon & Cant, volume 2, Ballantyne, page 275
    4 more examples

    The 'Varsity played Aston Villa and were beaten after a very exciting game; this was pre-eminently the most important "Socker" game played in Oxford this term.

    1885 December 28, “Our Oxford Letter”, in The Oldhallian, page 171

    Golf is perhaps seven or eight years old in Oxford, ... football, seu Rugger, sive Soccer, not more than sixteen or seventeen.

    1888 February 15, “Charley Symonds”, in The Oxford Magazine, page 224

    Those who play under the "Socker" (Association) rules in the North of England, the Midlands, and Scotland take no heed of the warmness of the weather

    1889 September 16, “Football Prospects in the West of England”, in The Western Daily Press, volume 63, number 9757, Bristol, page 7

    Diehard soccer fans likely have become familiar with England’s Sky Sports News channel over the years.

    2023 March 8, Jonathan Tannenwald, “CBS is launching a 24/7 soccer channel online”, in The Philadelphia Inquirer

    Synonyms: association football, football, association football, soccer football, football, footy, footie, footer

verbsoccer (third-person singular simple present soccers, present participle soccering, simple past and past participle soccered)

present singular third person soccers · participle present soccering · participle past soccered · past soccered · alternative socker · alternative socca

  1. Australian rules footballTo kick the football directly off the ground, without using one's hands.

    The rule seems to have encouraged players to soccer the ball along the ground.

    1990, Geoffrey Blainey, A Game of Our Own: The Origins of Australian Football, Black Inc. Publishing, published 2003, page 73
    2 more examples

    […]West Perth seemed on the verge of victory, only to succumb by 4 points after a soccered goal from Old Easts with less than half a minute remaining.

    2008, John Devaney, Full Points Footy′s WA Football Companion, page 334

    Fevola showed the best and worst of his play after dropping a simple chest mark, only to regather seconds later and soccer the ball through from the most acute of angles.

    2010 March 27, Michael Whiting, “Lions give Fev debut to remember”, in AFL - The official site of the Australian Football League

Synonyms & antonyms

More synonyms by meaning

nouna football game in which two teams of 11 players try to kick or head a ball into the opponents' goal

Broader
footballfootball game

Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

Origin

Originally British English; as an abbreviation for association football, via abbreviation assoc. + -er (suffix); earlier socker (1885), also socca (1889), with soccer attested 1888. Compare contemporary rugger, from rugby. Similarly constructed coinages from the same period include: brekker (“breakfast”), fresher (“freshman”) and footer (“football”). See Oxford -er.

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Afrikaans sokker
  • sokkergame
Arabic كُرَةُ الْقَدَم
  • كُرَةُ الْقَدَم (kuratu l-qadam)game
Bengali ফুটবল
  • ফুটবল (phuṭbol)game
Bulgarian фу́тбол
  • фу́тбол (fútbol)game
Catalan futbol
  • futbolgame
Chinese Cantonese 足球
  • 足球 (zuk¹ kau⁴)game
Chinese Mandarin 足球, 蹴球
  • 足球 (zúqiú)game
  • 蹴球 (cùqiú)game
Czech fotbal, kopaná
  • fotbalgame
  • kopanágame
Danish fodbold
  • fodboldgame
Dutch voetbal
  • voetbalgame
Esperanto futbalo
  • futbalogame
Estonian jalgpall
  • jalgpallgame
Finnish jalkapallo, jalkkis
  • jalkapallogame
  • jalkkisgame
  • futisgame
  • futagame
French football, soccer
  • footballgame
  • soccergame
German Fußball, Fuppes
  • Fußballgame
  • Fuppesgame
Greek ποδόσφαιρο
  • ποδόσφαιρο (podósfairo)game
Hawaiian kinipōpō peku
  • kinipōpō pekugame
Hebrew כַּדּוּרֶגֶל
  • כַּדּוּרֶגֶל (kadurégel)game
Hindi फ़ुटबॉल, फ़ुटबाल
  • फ़ुटबॉल (fuṭbŏl)game
  • फ़ुटबाल (fuṭbāl)game
  • फुटबॉल (phuṭbŏl)game
  • फुटबाल (phuṭbāl)game
Hungarian labdarúgás, futball
  • labdarúgásgame
  • futballgame
  • focigame
Icelandic fótbolti, knattspyrna
  • fótboltigame
  • knattspyrnagame
Indonesian sepakbola
  • sepakbolagame
Irish sacar, peil
  • sacargame
  • peilgame
Italian calcio
  • calciogame
Japanese サッカー, 蹴球
  • サッカー (sakkā)game
  • 蹴球 (shūkyū)game
  • フットボール (futtobōru)game
Korean 축구, 풋볼
  • 축구 (chukgu)game
  • 풋볼 (putbol)game
  • 사커 (sakeo)game
Latin pediludium
  • pediludiumgame
Latvian futbols, kājbumba
  • futbolsgame
  • kājbumbagame
Lithuanian futbolas
  • futbolasgame
Malay bola sepak, sepak bola
  • bola sepakgame
  • sepak bolagame
Māori poi whana
  • poi whanagame
Norwegian Bokmål fotball
  • fotballgame
Polish piłka nożna, futbol
  • piłka nożnagame
  • futbolgame
  • gałagame
  • nogagame
Portuguese futebol
  • futebolgame
Punjabi ਫੁਟਬਾਲ
  • ਫੁਟਬਾਲ (phuṭbāl)game
Romanian fotbal
  • fotbalgame
Russian футбо́л, со́ккер
  • футбо́л (futból)game
  • со́ккер (sókker)game
  • ногомя́ч (nogomjáč)game
Scottish Gaelic ball-coise
  • ball-coisegame
Slovak futbal, fotbal
  • futbalgame
  • fotbalgame
Spanish fútbol, futbol
  • fútbolgame
  • futbolgame
  • balompiégame
  • balón-piegame
  • pambolgame
Swahili soka, kandanda
  • sokagame
  • kandandagame
Swedish fotboll
  • fotbollgame
Tagalog putbol
  • putbolgame
Tamil கால்பந்து
  • கால்பந்து (kālpantu)game
Thai ฟุตบอล
  • ฟุตบอล (fút-bɔn)game
Turkish futbol, ayak topu
  • futbolgame
  • ayak topugame
Ukrainian футбо́л, копа́ний м'яч
  • футбо́л (futból)game
  • копа́ний м'яч (kopányj mʺjač)game
Urdu فُٹ بال
  • فُٹ بال (fuṭ bāl)game
Vietnamese bóng đá, bóng tròn
  • bóng đágame
  • bóng tròngame
  • đá banhgame
  • túc cầugame
Welsh pêl-droed
  • pêl-droedgame
Yiddish פֿוסבאָל
  • פֿוסבאָל (fusbol)game
Zulu ibhola
  • ibholagame

Rhymes & wordplay

Rhymes with soccer

All rhymes →

Anagrams

Cite this entry
APA

soccer. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/soccer

MLA

“soccer.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/soccer. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “soccer,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/soccer.

Source: soccer on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.