Motorsport

How to spell motorsport

10 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce motorsport

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does motorsport mean?

1. nounCompetitive sport involving racing or other events with engine-powered vehicles such as cars and motorcycles.

Motorsport in a sentence

• His lifelong passion for motorsport began at a local racetrack.

• The broadcaster signed a deal to cover top-tier motorsport across the season.

Where does motorsport come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This is a modern English compound formed from 'motor' and 'sport'. The first element traces back to the Latin motor, meaning 'a mover', built on the verb movere, 'to move'; in the late nineteenth century 'motor' came to describe the engine that propels a vehicle, and then the powered vehicle itself, especially the early motorcar. The second element, 'sport', arrived in English in the fourteenth century from the Old French desport, meaning 'pleasure, amusement, or diversion', which was shortened in everyday use to simply 'sport'. The two words were joined in the twentieth century, once motor racing had grown into an organised competitive pursuit, to give a single tidy label for racing in powered vehicles. Because both halves are familiar everyday words, the spelling itself is straightforward, with the only real point of attention being whether to write it as one word.

How the word is built

• motor (engine-powered vehicle, from Latin motor 'mover')
• sport (competitive physical activity)