Varsity

How to spell varsity

7 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce varsity

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does varsity mean?

1. nounThe principal team representing a school, college, or university in a sport, as opposed to the junior or reserve squad.
2. nounAn informal British term for a university, especially in the context of inter-university sport.

Varsity in a sentence

• He made the varsity basketball team in his final year of high school.

• The annual varsity rugby match draws crowds from both cities.

• The coach moved three juniors up to the varsity roster.

• His older brother is up at varsity studying law.

Where does varsity come from?

Language of origin: Latin

Varsity began life in the 1600s as a slang clipping of 'university', dropping the opening 'univer-' and leaving a short, chatty word for student and college life. The unusual spelling preserves an older English pronunciation in which the 'er' of the original was sounded as 'ar', the same shift that once turned 'clerk' into 'clark' and 'Derby' into 'Darby'. For a long time it was written 'versity' before the now-standard 'varsity' settled in, especially among Oxford and Cambridge students who used it for their universities and their inter-university sporting contests. In American and Canadian use the meaning narrowed to the top, fully representative sports team of a school or college, as opposed to the junior or reserve squads. The hidden trap for spellers is that 'varsity' looks nothing like its parent 'university', so the 'ar' (not 'er') and the single 's' have to be remembered on their own.

How the word is built

• varsity (a colloquial clipping and respelling of 'university', from univer-
• -sity)