Preseason

How to spell preseason

9 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce preseason

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does preseason mean?

1. nounThe period of practice and warm-up matches before a sporting season officially starts.
2. adjectiveRelating to the period before a sporting season begins.

Preseason in a sentence

• noun

  The team trained hard throughout the preseason to build fitness.

• adjective

  The coach scheduled three preseason games against local rivals.

• noun

  Ticket prices are lower during the preseason than during the regular schedule.

• adjective

  A strong preseason camp helped the rookies adjust to the league.

Where does preseason come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This is a modern compound built from the prefix pre-, which comes from the Latin prae meaning 'before' or 'in front of', and the noun season. Season itself travelled into English through Old French seson and ultimately from the Latin satio, which literally meant 'a sowing' of seed and later came to mark the time of year for that sowing. Over the centuries season broadened from farming time into any recognised stretch of the year, including the calendar of a sport or a trade. The prefixed form preseason emerged largely in twentieth-century American sports writing to name the warm-up period before competitive play begins. The spelling trap is simply whether to close it up or hyphenate it: American usage favours the solid form preseason, while British writing has long leaned toward pre-season with a hyphen.

How the word is built

• pre- (before)
• season (a period of the year, from Latin satio: a sowing)