athlete

See also: athlète

English

An athlete

An athlete

Etymology

From Middle English athlete, from Latin āthlēta (and probably also partly from Middle French athlete), from Ancient Greek ἀθλητής (athlētḗs), from ἀθλέω (athléō, “compete for a prize”), from ἆθλον (âthlon, “prize”) or ἆθλος (âthlos, “competition”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈæθ.liːt/
• (General American, Canada) IPA^(key): /ˈæθ.lit/
• IPA^(key): (proscribed, anaptyctic) /ˈæθ.ə.liːt/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Noun

athlete (plural athletes)

1. A participant in any of a group of sporting activities including track and field, road running, cross country running and racewalking.
2. (US, Canada) A person who actively participates in physical sports, especially with great skill; a sportsperson.

   She's the first athlete in her sport to obtain a corporate sponsor.

   • 2013 March, David S. Senchina, “Athletics and Herbal Supplements”, in American Scientist‎^[1], volume 101, number 2, archived from the original on 16 May 2013, page 134:

     Athletes' use of herbal supplements has skyrocketed in the past two decades. At the top of the list of popular herbs are echinacea and ginseng, whereas garlic, St. John's wort, soybean, ephedra and others are also surging in popularity or have been historically prevalent.

3. An exceptionally physically fit person.

Synonyms

• sportsperson

Derived terms

• athletehood
• athlete's foot
• athleticism
• athletocracy
• biathlete
• cyberathlete
• decathlete
• e-athlete
• ethlete
• heptathlete
• mathlete
• neutral Paralympic athlete
• nonathlete
• para-athlete
• parathlete
• Spanish athlete
• student-athlete, student athlete
• superathlete
• triathlete
• world's greatest athlete

Related terms

• athletic
• athletics
• -athlon

Translations

participant in track and field, road running, cross country running, or racewalking

• Albanian: atlet (sq) m, atlete (sq) f
• Arabic: please add this translation if you can
• Armenian: please add this translation if you can
• Belarusian: лёгкаатле́т m (ljohkaatljét), лёгкаатле́тка f (ljohkaatljétka)
• Bulgarian: лекоатле́т m (lekoatlét), лекоатле́тка f (lekoatlétka)
• Burmese: အားကစားသမား (a:ka.ca:sa.ma:)
• Catalan: atleta (ca) m or f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 田徑運動員 / 田径运动员 (tiánjìng yùndòngyuán)

• Coptic: ⲁⲑⲗⲏⲧⲏⲥ (athlētēs)
• Czech: atlet (cs) m, atletka (cs) f
• Danish: atlet (da) c
• Esperanto: atleto, sportisto
• Finnish: yleisurheilija (fi)
• French: athlète (fr) m or f
• Georgian: ათლეტი (atleṭi)
• German: Athlet (de) m, Athletin (de) f, Sportler (de), Sportlerin (de) f
• Greek: αθλητής (el) m (athlitís), αθλήτρια (el) f (athlítria)

  Ancient: ἀθλητής m (athlētḗs)

• Hungarian: atléta (hu)
• Icelandic: íþrottmaður m
• Ido: atleto (io)
• Indonesian: atlet (id)
• Irish: lúthchleasaí m
• Italian: atleta (it) m or f
• Japanese: 陸上競技の選手 (りくじょうきょうぎのせんしゅ, rikujō kyōgi no senshu), 陸上選手 (りくじょうせんしゅ, rikujō senshu)
• Kazakh: жеңіл атлет (jeñıl atlet)
• Khmer: អត្តពលិក (ʼattaʼpŏəllɨk), អ្នកកីឡា (nĕək kəylaa)
• Korean: 육상 경기 선수 (yuksang gyeonggi seonsu), 육상 선수 (yuksang seonsu)
• Latin: āthlēta m
• Lithuanian: atletas m, atletė f, sportininkas m, sportininkė f
• Maori: kaipara
• Mongolian: please add this translation if you can
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: idrettsmann m, idrettsutøver m

  Nynorsk: idrettsmann m, idrettsutøvar m

• Ottoman Turkish: پهلوان (pehlevân, pehlivân)
• Polish: lekkoatleta (pl) m, lekkoatletka (pl) f, atleta (pl) m, atletka (pl) f
• Portuguese: atleta (pt) m or f
• Russian: легкоатле́т (ru) m (lexkoatlét), легкоатле́тка (ru) f (lexkoatlétka)
• Serbo-Croatian: sportaš (sh) m
• Slovak: športovec m
• Spanish: deportista (es), atleta (es)
• Swahili: mwanariadha (sw)
• Swedish: friidrottare (sv)
• Telugu: క్రీడాకారుడు (krīḍākāruḍu), క్రీడాకారిణి (krīḍākāriṇi)
• Thai: นักกีฬา (th) (nák-gii-laa)
• Turkish: please add this translation if you can
• Ukrainian: легкоатле́т (uk) m (lehkoatlét), легкоатле́тка f (lehkoatlétka)
• Vietnamese: vận động viên (vi)

person who actively participates in physical sports

• Albanian: atlet (sq) m, atlete (sq) f
• Arabic: رِيَاضِيّ m (riyāḍiyy), رِيَاضِيَّة (ar) f (riyāḍiyya)
• Armenian: սպորտսմեն (hy) (sportsmen), մարզիկ (hy) (marzik)
• Azerbaijani: idmançı (az)
• Belarusian: спартсме́н m (spartsmjén), спартсме́нка f (spartsmjénka), спарто́вец m (spartóvjec), спарто́ўка f (spartóŭka), атле́т m (atljét), атле́тка f (atljétka)
• Bulgarian: атле́т m (atlét), атле́тка f (atlétka), спорти́ст (bg) m (sportíst), спорти́стка f (sportístka)
• Burmese: အားကစားသမား (a:ka.ca:sa.ma:)
• Catalan: atleta (ca) m or f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 運動員 / 运动员 (zh) (yùndòngyuán)

• Czech: sportovec (cs) m, sportovkyně (cs) f
• Danish: sportsudøver (da) c
• Dutch: atleet (nl)
• Esperanto: atleto
• Estonian: sportlane
• Finnish: atleetti (fi)
• French: athlète (fr) m or f, sportif (fr) m, sportive (fr) f
• Galician: atleta (gl) m or f
• Georgian: ათლეტი (atleṭi), სპორტსმენი (ka) (sṗorṭsmeni)
• German: Sportler (de) m, Sportlerin (de) f, Athlet (de) m, Athletin (de) f
• Greek: αθλητής (el) m (athlitís), αθλήτρια (el) f (athlítria)

  Ancient: ἀθλητής m (athlētḗs)

• Hebrew: אַתְלֶט (he) m (atlét)
• Hindi: खिलाड़ी m (khilāṛī)
• Hungarian: atléta (hu)
• Ido: atleto (io)
• Indonesian: atlet (id)
• Irish: lúthchleasaí m
• Italian: atleta (it) m or f, sportivo (it) m, sportiva (it) f
• Japanese: 運動選手 (ja) (うんどうせんしゅ, undō senshu), 選手 (ja) (せんしゅ, senshu)
• Kazakh: спортшы (sportşy)
• Khmer: អត្តពលិក (ʼattaʼpŏəllɨk), អ្នកកីឡា (nĕək kəylaa)
• Korean: 운동선수(運動選手) (undongseonsu), 선수(選手) (ko) (seonsu)
• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: palewan (ku) m, werzişvan (ku) m

• Kyrgyz: спортчу (ky) (sportcu)
• Lao: ນັກກິລາ (lo) (nak ki lā)
• Latin: āthlēta m
• Latvian: atlēts m, atlēte f, sportists m, sportiste f
• Lithuanian: sportininkas m, sportininkė f
• Macedonian: спорти́ст m (sportíst), спорти́стка f (sportístka)
• Malay: atlet, olahragawan (ms)
• Maori: kaipara
• Mongolian:

  Cyrillic: тамирчин (mn) (tamirčin)

  Mongolian: ᠲᠠᠮᠢᠷᠴᠢᠨ (tamirčin)

• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: atlet m

• Ottoman Turkish: پهلوان (pehlevân, pehlivân)
• Pashto: ورزشکار m (warzǝškãr)
• Persian: ورزشکار (fa) (varzeškâr)
• Polish: sportowiec (pl) m, sportsmenka (pl) f, atleta (pl) m, atletka (pl) f
• Portuguese: atleta (pt) m or f
• Romanian: atlet (ro) m, atletă (ro) f
• Russian: спортсме́н (ru) m (sportsmén), спортсме́нка (ru) f (sportsménka), атле́т (ru) m (atlét), атле́тка (ru) f (atlétka)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: спортиста m

  Roman: sportista m

• Slovak: športovec m, športovkyňa f
• Slovene: športnik (sl) m, športnica f
• Spanish: atleta (es) m or f, deportista (es) m or f
• Swahili: mwanariadha (sw)
• Swedish: atlet (sv) c
• Tajik: варзишгар (varzišgar)
• Tatar: спортчы (sportçı)
• Thai: นักกีฬา (th) (nák-gii-laa)
• Turkish: sporcu (tr)
• Turkmen: sportçy
• Ukrainian: спортсме́н m (sportsmén), спортсме́нка f (sportsménka), спорто́вець m (sportóvecʹ), спорто́вка f (sportóvka), атле́т (uk) m (atlét), атле́тка f (atlétka)
• Urdu: کهلڑی m (khilāṛī)
• Uyghur: تەنھەرىكەتچى (tenheriketchi), ئىسپورتچى (isportchi)
• Uzbek: sportchi (uz), atlet (uz)
• Vietnamese: nhà thể thao

exceptionally physically fit person

• Catalan: atleta (ca) m or f
• Finnish: atleetti (fi)
• French: athlète (fr) m or f
• Galician: atleta (gl) m or f
• Maori: waetea
• Norwegian: spreking m, atlet m
• Polish: atleta (pl) m, atletyk m
• Romanian: persoană atletică f, atlet (ro) m
• Spanish: atletica

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Ido: ^{(please verify)} atleto (io)
• Korean: ^{(please verify)} 운동가 (undongga) (undongga)
• Sinhalese: ^{(please verify)} මලල ක්‍රීඩකයා (malala krīḍakayā)
• Swedish: ^{(please verify)} atlet (sv)

Anagrams

• elateth