athletics

See also: Athletics

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /æθˈlɛtɪks/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

Etymology 1

From athletic: see -ics. Probably formed on the model of gymnastics.

Noun

athletics pl (plural only)

2. (sports, especially British) A group of sporting activities including track and field, road running, cross country and racewalking.
3. (sports, especially US) Physical activities such as sports and games requiring stamina, fitness and skill.
   • 2009 January 17, William C. Rhoden, “University Sells Itself During Playoffs”, in The New York Times‎^[1]:

     The University of Phoenix, a for-profit educational institution, has turned the traditional relationship between athletics and higher education on its head, reducing it to its commercially exploitive essence.

Derived terms

• athleisurewear
• cyberathletics
• para-athletics

Related terms

• athleticism

Translations

(chiefly Britain) a group of sporting activities including track and field, road running, cross country and racewalking

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 田徑 / 田径 (zh) (tiánjìng)

• Finnish: yleisurheilu (fi)
• French: athlétisme (fr)
• Hungarian: atlétika (hu)
• Indonesian: atletik (id)
• Irish: lúthchleas m, cleasa lúith m pl
• Japanese: 陸上競技 (ja)
• Macedonian: атлетика f (atletika)
• Malay: olahraga (ms)
• Polish: atletyka (pl) f
• Ukrainian: атле́тика (uk) f (atlétyka)

(chiefly US) physical activities such as sports and games requiring stamina, fitness and skill

• Albanian: atletikë (sq)
• Armenian: աթլետիկա (atʻletika)
• Bulgarian: атлѐтика f (atlètika)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 運動 / 运动 (zh) (yùndòng), 競技 / 竞技 (zh) (jìngjì), 體育 / 体育 (zh) (tǐyù)

• Czech: atletika (cs) f
• Danish: friidræt c, atletik (da) c
• Dutch: atletiek (nl) f
• Finnish: urheilu (fi)
• French: athlétisme (fr) m
• German: Athletik f
• Hindi: खेलकूद (khelkūd), व्यायाम (hi) m (vyāyām)
• Hungarian: sport (hu), sportolás (hu)
• Irish: lúthchleas m
• Italian: atletica (it) f
• Khmer: អត្តពលកម្ម (ʼattaʼpŏəlləkam)
• Macedonian: атлетика f (atletika)
• Maltese: atletika
• Maori: kaipara
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: friidrett (no) m

  Nynorsk: friidrett m

• Polish: lekkoatletyka (pl), atletyka (pl) f
• Portuguese: atletismo (pt) m
• Romanian: atletism (ro)
• Russian: атле́тика (ru) f (atlétika)
• Spanish: atletismo (es) m
• Swahili: riadha (sw)
• Swedish: friidrott (sv) c
• Ukrainian: атле́тика (uk) f (atlétyka)

Etymology 2

From athletic +‎ -s.

Noun

athletics

1. plural of athletic