# What's the etymology of "soccer" **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 30, 2014, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-etymology-of-soccer/692043 "2014-06-30T23:00:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2014, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-etymology-of-soccer/692043/21 "2014-07-01T18:01:28Z")
That is not in opposition to anything I said. ---
**Author:** ![Pleonast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pleonast/32/1183_2.png) [@Pleonast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pleonast)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2014, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-etymology-of-soccer/692043/22 "2014-07-01T18:04:52Z")
> [@cmkeller](#): > > “soc” is short for “asSOCiation”. The specific type of football that soccer is is “Association Football” (as opposed to the version of the game that grew into American Football, which was “Rugby Football”). Actually, American football did not evolve from Rugby football, but in parallel. More of a sister relationship than a mother-daughter one. ---
**Author:** ![aldiboronti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc348/32.png) [@aldiboronti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aldiboronti)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2014, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-etymology-of-soccer/692043/23 "2014-07-01T18:09:50Z")
> [@armedmonkey](#): > > I knew it was a bad comparison right after I posted it. What I was getting at about “Britishism” is I’m trying to clarify that the word “soccer” isn’t really American. It’s British slang. The British slang then became American vernacular but was also dropped by the Brits themselves. Is that correct? > > Language is weird. The word soccer hasn’t been dropped by the Brits at all. It’s still in common use here, although the term football is far more common. ---
**Author:** ![RobDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f07891/32.png) [@RobDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RobDog)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2014, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-etymology-of-soccer/692043/24 "2014-07-01T18:14:20Z")
> [@aldiboronti](#): > > The word soccer hasn’t been dropped by the Brits at all. It’s still in common use here, although the term football is far more common. For evidence, see the Sky Sports TV shows Soccer AM and Soccer Saturday. ---
**Author:** ![armedmonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@armedmonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/armedmonkey)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2014, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-etymology-of-soccer/692043/25 "2014-07-01T18:41:09Z")
> [@aldiboronti](#): > > The word soccer hasn’t been dropped by the Brits at all. It’s still in common use here, although the term football is far more common. Huh. I did not know that. Good job fighting ignorance, you random posters on the internet! ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2014, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-etymology-of-soccer/692043/26 "2014-07-01T18:58:18Z")
Until recently “Bath Football Club” was the name of the Somerset city’s _rugby_ club - because it was founded before the division of the codes. It is now “Bath Rugby”. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2014, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-etymology-of-soccer/692043/27 "2014-07-01T23:14:51Z")
> [@Inner\_Stickler](#): > > It’s a good question. I don’t know for a fact, but I note the earliest quote for soccer in the online OED is “1889 E. Dowson Let. 21 Feb. (1967) 38, I absolutely decline to see socca’ matches.” > > If the movement, at least in print was from Association football to assoc. football, then I could see how an english speaker, unthinkingly applying standard phonological rules, might swap the ‘soft’ sound for the ‘hard’. A more expanded version of the OED commentary on “rugger” and “soccer.” > [@OED](#): > > Pronunciation: > /ˈsɒkə(r)/ > Forms: Also socca, socker. > > Etymology: \< Assoc., short for Association . Compare rugger n.2 > > colloq. > The game of football as played under Association rules. Also attrib. and Comb. > > 1889 E. Dowson Let. 21 Feb. (1967) 38, I absolutely decline to see socca’ matches. > > 1891 Lock to Lock Times 24 Oct. 13/2 A sterling player, and has the best interest of the ‘socker’ game at heart. > > 1894 Westm. Gaz. 11 Jan. 7/1 The rival attractions of ‘rugger’ and ‘socker’. > > 1895 19th Cent. Nov. 862 When the boat~race, sports, and ‘soccer’ are in most men’s minds. > > 1899 New Cent. Rev. V. 118 A Methodist minister—who…doffed the Socker jersey. > [@OED](#): > > Pronunciation: > Brit. /ˈrʌɡə/ , U.S. /ˈrəɡər/ > Etymology: \< rug- (in rugby n.) + -er suffix6. > > slang. The game of rugby. > The term is usually understood to refer to rugby union rather than rugby league, and is widely associated with upper-class British speech. > > 1889 Boy’s Own Paper 6 Apr. 431/3 In Varsity patois Rugby is yclept ‘Rugger’, while Association has for its synonym ‘Socker’. > > 1893 Westm. Gaz. 17 Oct. 5/3 W. Neilson was elected captain of ‘rugger’ and T. N. Perkins of ‘socker’. ---
**Author:** ![UDS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecae2f/32.png) [@UDS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UDS)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2014, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-etymology-of-soccer/692043/28 "2014-07-02T01:59:12Z")
> [@Malacandra](#): > > Until recently “Bath Football Club” was the name of the Somerset city’s _rugby_ club - because it was founded before the division of the codes. It is now “Bath Rugby”. Some “football clubs” play rugby football; some play Association football; some play other codes. The Dublin University Football Club, the Clontarf Football Club, the Cork Constitution Football Club, the Garryowen Football Club and the Lansdowne Football Club are all participants in Division 1A of the Ulster Bank All-Ireland League, which is a rugby competition. And that’s just one division of one competition in one country. ---
**Author:** ![Pjen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Pjen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pjen)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2014, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-etymology-of-soccer/692043/29 "2014-07-02T03:01:06Z")
Two points. The hard sound of Soccer rather than Socher from association is also mirrored in University societies- Chem Soc, Poetry Soc etc all pronounced SOCK. Soccer when used in speech in the UK points either to American origins or coming from the posher classes- I went to a pretendy posh school which only played rugger; playing soccer, even in the playground, was banned. When used in this way it implies that Soccer is somehow inferior to real football- rugger. When I hear someone referring to soccer in speech I assume Posh or American. ---
**Author:** ![UDS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecae2f/32.png) [@UDS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UDS)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2014, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-etymology-of-soccer/692043/30 "2014-07-02T03:27:26Z")
> [@Pjen](#): > > When I hear someone referring to soccer in speech I assume Posh or American. Or Australian. Or Irish. Or in fact from almost anywhere outside Britain. ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2014, 7:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-etymology-of-soccer/692043/31 "2014-07-02T07:48:17Z")
> [@UDS](#): > > Some “football clubs” play rugby football; some play Association football; some play other codes. The Dublin University Football Club, the Clontarf Football Club, the Cork Constitution Football Club, the Garryowen Football Club and the Lansdowne Football Club are all participants in Division 1A of the Ulster Bank All-Ireland League, which is a rugby competition. And that’s just one division of one competition in one country. And I’d certainly expect that some Irish football clubs play Gaelic football, and don’t bother to qualify their names because it would be Brit-centric to assume that soccer was the default form of football. Or indeed are named in Irish in the first place. ---
**Author:** ![UDS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecae2f/32.png) [@UDS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UDS)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2014, 8:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-etymology-of-soccer/692043/32 "2014-07-02T08:25:20Z")
> [@Malacandra](#): > > And I’d certainly expect that some Irish football clubs play Gaelic football, and don’t bother to qualify their names because it would be Brit-centric to assume that soccer was the default form of football. Or indeed are named in Irish in the first place. Actually, no. The relevant sporting federation is the Gaelic Athletic Association, and it’s the rule-setting body not just for Gaelic football but for hurling, (Irish) rounders and (Gaelic) handball. Most clubs in the GAA will concentrate on (or have a reputation with regard to) one of these sports, but they usually organise training, field teams, etc in more than one, or at least hold them selves out as open to doing so, and they are named accordingly. The result is that, e.g., while the Clontarf Football Club plays rugby, it’s the Clontarf GAA Club which fields Gaelic football (and hurling) teams. Off the top of my head I can’t think of a single club playing Gaelic football which is called the “XYZ Football Club”, though I suppose there might be some. The principal soccer-playing club in Clontarf has the same name as the principal rugby-playing club - they are both the Clontarf Football Club. This causes less confusion than you might think - the soccer-playing club is a strictly amateur affair with no premises or pitches of its own, and of course the two clubs participate in different federations and play in different leagues. There are not many contexts in which confusion is likely. Locally, where it’s necessary to distinguish them, they are simply “the soccer club” and “the rugby club”. ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2014, 8:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-etymology-of-soccer/692043/33 "2014-07-02T08:39:32Z")
Thank you! Iggerance fought. 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![Fuzzy\_wuzzy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a8b319/32.png) [@Fuzzy\_wuzzy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fuzzy_wuzzy)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2014, 10:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-etymology-of-soccer/692043/34 "2014-07-02T10:39:14Z")
> [@UDS](#): > > Or Australian. Or Irish. Or in fact from almost anywhere outside Britain. I have rarely heard an Irishman call football soccer. They may call it soccer a bit more often than Brits, but I suspect football is the default term used by most Irish. I suppose it largely depends on where and when the sport is being talked about. An Irish pub full of Irishmen watching Liverpool versus Man Utd are not going to use the word “soccer”. Trivia. Football gets a mention by the character Kent in King Lear: “Nor tripped neither, you base football player” ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2014, 11:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-etymology-of-soccer/692043/35 "2014-07-02T11:13:03Z")
When I was in Ireland (which happened to be a World Cup year, so there was a lot of talk about the sport), I saw the term “soccer” used exclusively for the World Cup sport, while the term “football” seemed to refer, by default, to Gaelic rules (which appears to be akin to rugby). ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2014, 11:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-etymology-of-soccer/692043/36 "2014-07-02T11:23:44Z")
Gaelic’s closest football cousin is Australian Rules (its closest \*relative \*is a non-football sport, hurling - the major difference then being the size of the ball and the presence of a stick). Gaelic and Rules both oblige you to bounce the ball as you run, and to punch rather than throw a pass, and allow kicking from hand. Neither has the same sort of set-pieces as rugby or gridiron has, and in both the only means of scoring is to kick the ball into a goal, with differential scoring depending on which target you hit. ---
**Author:** ![Fuzzy\_wuzzy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a8b319/32.png) [@Fuzzy\_wuzzy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fuzzy_wuzzy)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2014, 11:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-etymology-of-soccer/692043/37 "2014-07-02T11:26:18Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > When I was in Ireland (which happened to be a World Cup year, so there was a lot of talk about the sport), I saw the term “soccer” used exclusively for the World Cup sport, while the term “football” seemed to refer, by default, to Gaelic rules (which appears to be akin to rugby). Fair enough. However, I have rarely (if ever) heard an Irishman use the word soccer when he is in the UK. ---
**Author:** ![bob\_2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_2/32/3341_2.png) [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2014, 11:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-etymology-of-soccer/692043/38 "2014-07-02T11:57:54Z")
I should have checked World Wide Words [Fan](http://www.worldwidewords.org/topicalwords/tw-fan1.htm) as the definitive website for etymology. > [@](#): > > As a bonus topical aside, the origin of this odd word soccer lies in a bit of British public schoolboy slang of the end of last century. There were then two forms of football. One was rugby football, the one that uses the oval ball that you were allowed to pick up and run with, named after the public school where it originated. In short rugby, it was informally termed rugger, the -er ending then being a common way to form slangy terms. The other kind, under the rules of the Football Association, was formally named association football. A short form of this was obviously essential, and it was shortened in imitation of rugger by taking the second syllable of association and adding the -er ending to form soccer. No doubt the apparent association with the verb sock, “to hit”, helped it to become popular. ---
**Author:** ![blindboyard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blindboyard/32/2833_2.png) [@blindboyard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blindboyard)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2014, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-etymology-of-soccer/692043/39 "2014-07-02T19:47:54Z")
I don’t believe the rugby code precedes the association code. Certainly the Rugby Football Union was formed largely by dissidents fleeing the superior code of rules being put about by the FA. Looking for another code of rules they adopted a modified version of the Rugby School’s rules, and formed the modern sport of Rugby Union. ---
**Author:** ![UDS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecae2f/32.png) [@UDS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UDS)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2014, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-etymology-of-soccer/692043/40 "2014-07-03T01:37:28Z")
> [@blindboyard](#): > > I don’t believe the rugby code precedes the association code. Certainly the Rugby Football Union was formed largely by dissidents fleeing the superior code of rules being put about by the FA. Looking for another code of rules they adopted a modified version of the Rugby School’s rules, and formed the modern sport of Rugby Union. The Rugby Union codification comes later than the Football Association codification, certainly. But “Rugby football” was being played, and was being called by that name, and had distinctive rules that we would recognise as rugby, well before the Rugby Football Union was formed, and standardised its rules. Whereas the earliest rules that looked anything like Association Football (e.g. including a no-hands-on-the-ball rule) were the rules promulgated by the Football Association. Everyone knows the (probably apocryphal) story about William Webb Ellis picking up the ball and carrying it towards the goal, thereby “inventing” rugby. What’s not often appreciated is that the innovation here was not picking up the ball, but carrying it towards the goal (instead of passing it backwards, or passing it to another player to kick towards the goal). All versions of football that we know of allowed handling the ball in some circumstances until the FA produced a set of rules which banned it entirely (except for goalkeepers). (The other innovation of the FA was to ban holding, tripping or “hacking” [kicking the shins of] the player in possession of the ball. It was this rule change which lead Blackheath FA, a founder member of the Football Association, to leave the FA. Blackheath is now a noted Rubgy Union club.) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-etymology-of-soccer/692043.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-etymology-of-soccer/692043.md?page=3)