Medallist

How to spell medallist

9 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce medallist

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does medallist mean?

1. nounA person who has been awarded a medal, especially for winning or placing in a sporting contest.

Medallist in a sentence

• The gold medallist waved to the crowd from the podium.

• As an Olympic medallist, she now coaches young swimmers at the local club.

Where does medallist come from?

Language of origin: Italian

The word grows out of medal, which English borrowed in the late 1500s from the French medaille, itself taken from the Italian medaglia, a small metal coin or commemorative disc. The Italian word traces back to a Late Latin form medalia, thought to describe a coin worth half a denarius, and ultimately to the Latin metallum, meaning metal or a mine. A medal therefore began life as a piece of struck metal, and the meaning narrowed over time to the decorative disc awarded for achievement or worn to mark an event. The agent suffix -ist, from the Greek and Latin -ista, was attached to give medallist, a person who has won a medal, a usage that became common in the nineteenth century alongside organised sport and competition. The British and Canadian spelling doubles the l before the suffix, following the same pattern that turns travel into travelled, whereas American spelling keeps a single l in medalist, and that single point is the main trap to remember.

How the word is built

• medal (from Italian medaglia, a metal coin or commemorative disc)
• -l- (doubled before the suffix in British and Canadian spelling)
• -ist (one who, agent suffix)

Words that sound like medallist

They sound the same but mean different things, so the meaning decides which spelling to write.

• medalist: A person who has been awarded a medal, especially for finishing among the top competitors in a sporting or academic contest.