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Added 7 October 2026

game

/ɡeɪm/ noun

In Latin: lūdus Wiktionary

noun Definition from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). Pronunciation from Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org. More about game at Wordnik → Where our words come from →

A playful or competitive activity. A playful activity that may be unstructured; an amusement or pastime.
Being a child is all fun and games.
A playful activity that may be unstructured; an amusement or pastime.
Being a child is all fun and games.
An activity described by a set of rules, especially for the purpose of entertainment, often competitive or having an explicit goal.
Games in the classroom can make learning fun.

adjective

Willing and able to participate.
That shows a tendency to continue to fight against another animal, despite being wounded, often severely.
Persistent, especially in senses similar to the above.

verb

To gamble.
To play card games, board games, or video games.
To exploit loopholes in a system or bureaucracy in a way which defeats or nullifies the spirit of the rules in effect, usually to obtain a result which otherwise would be unobtainable.
We'll bury them in paperwork, and game the system.

adjective

Injured, lame.

Origin

From Middle English game, gamen, gammen, from Old English gamen (“sport, joy, mirth, pastime, game, amusement, pleasure”), from Proto-West Germanic *gaman, from Proto-Germanic *gamaną (“amusement, pleasure, game", literally "participation, communion, people together”), from *ga- (collective prefix) + *mann- (“man”); or alternatively from *ga- + a root from Proto-Indo-European *men- (“to think, have in mind”).

From Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org (CC BY-SA)

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