Club

How to spell club

4 letters · 1 syllable

How to pronounce club

What does club mean?

1. nounAn organised group of people who meet for a shared interest, sport, or social activity.
2. nounA thick, heavy stick used as a weapon or for striking.
3. nounA long-shafted implement used to strike the ball in golf.
4. nounOne of the four suits in a standard deck of playing cards, marked by a black trefoil symbol.
5. verbTo beat or strike someone or something with a heavy stick or blunt object.

Club in a sentence

• noun

  She joined the local chess club to meet new people.

• noun

  The guard carried a wooden club on his belt.

• noun

  He selected an iron club for the shot across the fairway.

• noun

  She played the ace of one club to win the trick.

• verb

  The attacker tried to club the lock open with a metal bar.

• noun

  The tennis club raised its annual membership fee.

Where does club come from?

Language of origin: Old Norse

Club entered English in the 1200s from Old Norse klubba, which meant a cudgel or thick heavy stick, the kind of blunt weapon you would swing in a fight. The same Norse root is related to the idea of a lump or thick mass, which is why a club is essentially a piece of wood that gets fatter toward one end. By the 1600s the word took a striking turn: an association of people who 'clubbed together', that is, gathered into a single mass and pooled their money or company, came to be called a club. From that social meaning grew the modern senses of golf clubs, nightclubs, and members' clubs, while the card suit named clubs actually translates the Italian and Spanish symbol for a cudgel even though the printed shape looks like a trefoil leaf. The short, simple spelling has stayed remarkably stable, reflecting its blunt Norse origin.

How the word is built

• club (single root from Old Norse klubba: a heavy stick), no prefix or suffix