Added 9 October 2026

score

/skɔː/ noun

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

The total number of goals, points, runs, etc. earned by a participant in a game.
The player with the highest score is the winner.
The number of points accrued by each of the participants in a game, expressed as a ratio or a series of numbers.
The score is 8-1 even though it's not even half-time!
The performance of an individual or group on an examination or test, expressed by a number, letter, or other symbol; a grade.
The test scores for this class were high.

To cut a notch or a groove in a surface.
The baker scored the cake so that the servers would know where to slice it.
To record the tally of points for a game, a match, or an examination.
To obtain something desired. To earn points in a game.
It is unusual for a team to score a hundred goals in one game.

From Middle English score, skore, schore, from Old English scoru (“notch; tally; score”), from Old Norse skor, from Proto-Germanic *skurō (“incision; tear; rift”), which is related to *skeraną (“to cut”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ker- (“cut”). Cognate with Icelandic skora, Swedish skåra, Danish skår. Related to shear. For the sense “twenty”: The mark on a tally made by drovers for every twenty beasts passing through a tollgate.