Game

How to spell game

4 letters · 1 syllable

How to pronounce game

What does game mean?

1. nounAn activity or contest played according to rules, for amusement or competition.
2. nounWild animals or birds hunted for sport or food.
3. adjectiveEager and willing to do something, especially something risky or demanding.

Game in a sentence

• noun

  The children invented a new game to pass the rainy afternoon.

• noun

  The estate manages its woodland to protect the local game over winter.

• adjective

  Despite the cold weather, she was game for the early morning hike.

• noun

  The final game of the season drew a record crowd.

• noun

  The butcher sells venison and other game during the autumn season.

• adjective

  He stayed remarkably game even after two failed attempts.

Where does game come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

The word descends from the Old English noun 'gamen', which meant amusement, fun, or merriment, the kind of joy people shared in play. It belongs to a wider Germanic family, with relatives in Old Norse and Old High German, and at root it seems to have combined a collective prefix with a word meaning 'man' or 'person', giving a sense of 'people together' and so 'fellowship in play'. Over the medieval period the final 'n' was worn away in pronunciation, leaving the modern single-syllable 'game'. The meaning broadened from general fun to organised contests with rules, then narrowed in one branch to 'wild animals hunted for sport', since hunting was itself a noble pastime. The adjective use meaning 'plucky' or 'willing', as in being game for a challenge, grew from the spirited fighting quality admired in a gamecock.

How the word is built

• game (whole word, from Old English gamen: amusement, fun); no productive prefix or suffix