Leaderboard

How to spell leaderboard

11 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce leaderboard

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does leaderboard mean?

1. nounA board or screen showing the ranking of competitors or participants by score or performance.

Leaderboard in a sentence

• Her steady sales pushed her to the top of the company leaderboard.

• The marathon app updates the leaderboard as each runner crosses the line.

Where does leaderboard come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

This is a modern English compound, made simply by joining 'leader' and 'board'. 'Leader' comes from the verb 'lead', which traces back to the Old English laedan, meaning 'to guide' or 'to show the way'; the agent suffix '-er' turns it into 'one who is out in front'. 'Board' descends from the Old English bord, originally a plank or flat slab of wood, the same root that gives us 'cupboard' and 'surfboard', and which came to mean any flat surface used for display or notices. The two were welded together to name a board that displays who is leading, first in sports and competitive scoring and later in video games and sales charts. Because both halves are common native words, the only real spelling question is whether to write it as one word, and modern usage settles firmly on the single closed form 'leaderboard'.

How the word is built

• leader (one who leads, from lead
• -er)
• board (a flat display surface, from Old English bord)