Multiplayer

How to spell multiplayer

11 letters · 4 syllables

How to pronounce multiplayer

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does multiplayer mean?

1. adjectiveDesigned to be played by more than one person at once, typically of a video game.
2. nounA game or game mode in which several people play together at the same time.

Multiplayer in a sentence

• adjective

  The studio added a multiplayer mode so friends could compete online.

• noun

  He prefers the campaign, but she only plays the multiplayer.

• adjective

  Their best-selling title is a multiplayer shooter with global servers.

• noun

  The multiplayer was down for maintenance all weekend.

Where does multiplayer come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This is a modern compound built from two very different sources. The prefix 'multi-' comes from the Latin 'multus', meaning 'much' or 'many', a root that also sits inside familiar words like 'multiple' and 'multitude'. The second half, 'player', descends from the native Old English verb 'plegan', meaning to exercise, to move briskly, or to amuse oneself, with the agent suffix '-er' marking the person doing the action. The word was coined in the era of computing and video games during the late twentieth century to describe software that more than one person can play at the same time. It contrasts neatly with 'single-player', and the spelling trap is simply remembering that the Latin prefix keeps a single 'l' (multi, not multti) while joining cleanly onto the everyday English 'player'.

How the word is built

• multi- (many)
• play (verb root)
• -er (agent suffix)