Fullback

How to spell fullback

8 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce fullback

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does fullback mean?

1. nounIn soccer or rugby, a defensive player positioned near the rear, in front of the goalkeeper.
2. nounIn American or Canadian football, an offensive back who blocks and runs short carries from behind the line.

Fullback in a sentence

• The left fullback overlapped on the wing to deliver a cross.

• The fullback lowered his shoulder and powered through for a first down.

• Their veteran fullback broke up the attack with a clean tackle.

• On third and short the team handed the ball to their bruising fullback.

Where does fullback come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

Fullback is a transparent compound of two old native English words, 'full' and 'back', both inherited from Germanic roots that reach back through Old English. 'Full' descends from Old English 'full', meaning complete or entire, while 'back' comes from Old English 'baec', the rear part of the body and, by extension, a position behind others. The word arose in nineteenth-century football codes to name the player stationed furthest to the rear, the last line of defence behind the half-backs and forwards. As the various football codes split, the term took on slightly different jobs: a defensive player in soccer and rugby, but an offensive running and blocking back in the American and Canadian games. The chief spelling trap is simply that it is written as one solid word with a doubled 'l' carried over from 'full', not 'fulback' or 'full back'.

How the word is built

• full (complete)
• back (a player positioned to the rear), a compound noun