Goalie

How to spell goalie

6 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce goalie

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does goalie mean?

1. nounThe player whose job is to stop the ball or puck from entering the goal; a goalkeeper.

Goalie in a sentence

• The goalie dived to block the penalty shot.

• Our goalie wore thick padding for the hockey match.

Where does goalie come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

This is a casual contraction of 'goalkeeper', formed by adding the familiar English diminutive ending '-ie' to the word 'goal'. The word 'goal' itself first appeared in English in the 1500s, originally meaning a boundary or finishing point in a race, before it came to mean the structure a team defends in sports such as football and hockey. Its deeper origins are uncertain, though it may relate to a Middle English word for a boundary or barrier. The friendly '-ie' suffix, the same one seen in 'movie' and 'sweetie', has long been used in English to form affectionate or informal shortenings. 'Goalie' caught on in the later 1800s as organised team sports spread, and the short, chatty form quickly became the everyday term in speech and writing. The spelling keeps the silent visual link to 'goal' while the added 'ie' simply signals the informal nickname.

How the word is built

• goal (the target you defend)
• -ie (informal noun suffix)