Baseman

How to spell baseman

7 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce baseman

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does baseman mean?

1. nounA defensive baseball player stationed at or near one of the bases.

Baseman in a sentence

• The first baseman caught the throw a step before the runner arrived.

• As a second baseman he turned double plays with remarkable speed.

Where does baseman come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

This is a compound coined in American English in the nineteenth century from two much older parts. The first part, base, traces back through Old French to the Latin basis, meaning a foundation or pedestal, which itself came from a Greek word for a step or place where you set your foot. The second part, man, is a thoroughly native Old English word for an adult male person. As baseball developed its rules in the mid 1800s, each defensive player stationed at one of the bases became known by the number of the base he guarded, giving first baseman, second baseman, and third baseman. The spelling is mercifully transparent because both halves are common English words; the only thing to remember is that it is written as one solid word, not as two.

How the word is built

• base (from Latin basis: foundation, station)
• man (Germanic: adult male, here meaning a player who guards a station)