Standard Lemma guide

footballer

noun · 6 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • UK: /ˈfʊtbɔːlə/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • US: /ˈfʊtbɔːləɹ/

1

noun

Meaning 1

One who plays a form of football.

One who plays association football.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: New-Zealand, UK

Topics: ball-games, games, hobbies, lifestyle, soccer, sports

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

One who plays a form of football.

One who plays Australian rules football.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: Australia

Topics: hobbies, lifestyle, sports

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

One who plays a form of football.

One who plays Gaelic football.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: Ireland

Topics: hobbies, lifestyle, sports

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

4

noun

Meaning 4

One who plays a form of football.

One who plays American football.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: proscribed, rare

Topics: American-football, ball-games, football, games, hobbies, lifestyle, sports

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

5

noun

Meaning 5

Any fish in the kyphosid subfamily Microcanthinae.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Topics: biology, ichthyology, natural-sciences, zoology

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

6

noun

Meaning 6

an athlete who plays American football

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: football player

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: athlete, jock, player, participant

Narrower terms: back, ball carrier, runner, blocker, cornerback, football hero, kicker, linebacker, line backer, lineman, receiver, pass receiver, pass catcher, tackler

History

Etymology

From football + -er. For the kyphosid sense, named for the resemblance of their stripes to football uniforms.

Across languages

Translations

103 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Aragonese: futbolista — one who plays football
  • Armenian: ֆուտբոլիստ (futbolist) — one who plays football
  • Asturian: futbolista — one who plays football
  • Azerbaijani: futbolçu — one who plays football
  • Bashkir: футболсы (futbolsı) — one who plays football
  • Basque: futbolari — one who plays football
  • Belarusian: футбалі́ст (futbalíst) — one who plays football
  • Belarusian: футбалі́стка (futbalístka) — one who plays football
  • Bulgarian: футболи́ст (futbolíst) — one who plays football
  • Bulgarian: футболи́стка (futbolístka) — one who plays football
  • Burmese: ဘောလုံးသမား (bhau:lum:sa.ma:) — one who plays football
  • Carpathian Rusyn: фотбалі́ста (fotbalísta) — one who plays football
  • Carpathian Rusyn: фотбалі́стка (fotbalístka) — one who plays football
  • Catalan: futbolista — one who plays football
  • Chinese Mandarin: 足球員 /足球员 (zúqiúyuán) — one who plays football
  • Chinese Mandarin: 足球選手 /足球选手 (zúqiú xuǎnshǒu) — one who plays football
  • Chinese Mandarin: 足球運動員 /足球运动员 (zúqiú yùndòngyuán) — one who plays football
  • Czech: fotbalista — one who plays football
  • Czech: fotbalistka — one who plays football
  • Danish: fodboldspiller — one who plays football
  • Dutch: voetballer — one who plays football
  • Dutch: voetbalster — one who plays football
  • Dutch: voetbalspeler — one who plays football
  • Dutch: voetbalspeelster — one who plays football
  • Estonian: jalgpallur — one who plays football
  • Faroese: fótbóltsspælari — one who plays football
  • Finnish: jalkapalloilija — one who plays football
  • French: footballeur — one who plays football
  • French: footballeuse — one who plays football
  • Galician: futbolista — one who plays football
  • Georgian: ფეხბურთელი (pexburteli) — one who plays football
  • German: Fußballer — one who plays football
  • German: Fussballer — one who plays football
  • German: Fußballerin — one who plays football
  • German: Fussballerin — one who plays football
  • German: Fußballspieler — one who plays football
  • German: Fussballspieler — one who plays football
  • German: Fußballspielerin — one who plays football
  • German: Fussballspielerin — one who plays football
  • Greek: ποδοσφαιριστής (podosfairistís) — one who plays football
  • Greek: ποδοσφαιρίστρια (podosfairístria) — one who plays football
  • Hebrew: כַּדּוּרַגְלָן (kaduraglán) — one who plays football
  • Hungarian: futballista — one who plays football
  • Hungarian: labdarúgó — one who plays football
  • Hungarian: futballjátékos — one who plays football
  • Hungarian: focista — one who plays football
  • Hungarian: labdarúgónő — one who plays football
  • Icelandic: knattspyrnumaður — one who plays football
  • Icelandic: fótboltamaður — one who plays football
  • Irish: peileadóir — one who plays football
  • Italian: calciatore — one who plays football
  • Italian: calciatrice — one who plays football
  • Japanese: サッカー選手 (sakkā senshu) — one who plays football
  • Karakalpak: futbolshı — one who plays football
  • Kazakh: футболшы (futbolşy) — one who plays football
  • Korean: 축구 선수 (chukgu seonsu) — one who plays football
  • Kyrgyz: буттопчу (buttopcu) — one who plays football
  • Latvian: futbolists — one who plays football
  • Latvian: futboliste — one who plays football
  • Lithuanian: fùtbolininkas — one who plays football
  • Lithuanian: fùtbolininkė — one who plays football
  • Macedonian: фудбалер (fudbaler) — one who plays football
  • Macedonian: фудбалерка (fudbalerka) — one who plays football
  • Norwegian Bokmål: fotballspiller — one who plays football
  • Norwegian Bokmål: fotballspeller — one who plays football
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: fotballspelar — one who plays football
  • Occitan: fotbolaire — one who plays football
  • Occitan: fotbolaira — one who plays football
  • Persian: فوتبالیست (futbâlist) — one who plays football
  • Polish: piłkarz — one who plays football
  • Polish: piłkarz nożny — one who plays football
  • Polish: piłkarka nożna — one who plays football
  • Portuguese: futebolista — one who plays football
  • Portuguese: jogador de futebol — one who plays football
  • Portuguese: jogadora de futebol — one who plays football
  • Romanian: fotbalist — one who plays football
  • Romanian: fotbalistă — one who plays football
  • Russian: футболи́ст (futbolíst) — one who plays football
  • Russian: футболи́стка (futbolístka) — one who plays football
  • Serbo-Croatian: ногометаш — one who plays football
  • Serbo-Croatian: ногометашица — one who plays football
  • Serbo-Croatian: nogometaš — one who plays football
  • Serbo-Croatian: nogometašica — one who plays football
  • Slovak: futbalista — one who plays football
  • Slovak: futbalistka — one who plays football
  • Slovene: nogometáš — one who plays football
  • Slovene: nogometášica — one who plays football
  • Spanish: futbolista — one who plays football
  • Spanish: balompedista — one who plays football
  • Swahili: mwanasoka — one who plays football
  • Swedish: fotbollsspelare — one who plays football
  • Tajik: футболбоз (futbolboz) — one who plays football
  • Tatar: футболчы (futbolçı) — one who plays football
  • Turkish: futbolcu — one who plays football
  • Turkmen: futbolçy — one who plays football
  • Ukrainian: футболі́ст (futbolíst) — one who plays football
  • Ukrainian: футболі́стка (futbolístka) — one who plays football
  • Uzbek: futbolchi — one who plays football
  • Walloon: fotbalisse — one who plays football
  • Walloon: fotbaleu — one who plays football
  • Welsh: pêl-droediwr — one who plays football
  • Welsh: pêl-droedwraig — one who plays football
  • Yiddish: פֿוסבאָליסט (fusbolist) — one who plays football
Real reading context

footballer in complete knowledge articles