His tall and lean body is perfect for the ____ events at school.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
She has an ____ build and enjoys playing many various sports.
Word Origin & History
Etymology tree
Proto-Indo-European *h₂weh₁-der.
Proto-Indo-European *-tḗr
Proto-Indo-European *-tromder.
Ancient Greek ἆθλον (âthlon)
Ancient Greek ᾱ̓θλέω (āthléō)
Proto-Hellenic *-tās
Ancient Greek -τής (-tḗs)
Ancient Greek ἀθλητής (athlētḗs)
Proto-Indo-European *-kos
Ancient Greek -κός (-kós)
Ancient Greek -ικός (-ikós)
Ancient Greek ᾱ̓θλητῐκός (āthlētĭkós)bor.
Latin āthlēticuslbor.
Middle French athletiquebor.
English athletic
Borrowed from Middle French athletique and Latin āthlēticus, from Ancient Greek ἀθλητικός (athlētikós, “relating to an athlete”), from ἀθλητής (athlētḗs, “athlete”): equivalent to athlete + -ic. For more, see athlete.
The Super Mario sense is effectively a reborrowing of Japanese アスレチック (asurechikku, “obstacle course”), originally borrowed from English athletic; this sense was itself originally a clipping of the genericized wasei eigo trademark フィールドアスレチック (fīrudo asurechikku, “Field Athletic”).
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"An athletic kid from New Jersey, Fischer was known as a bold risk taker — they called him “the fallingest man in climbing” — until an old-school cragger taught him the Zen of controlled ascent."
— 2008 March 2, Bruce Barcott, “The Higher They Climb”, in The New York Times, archived from the original on 02 Jan 2018:
"An athletic course in which Mario must traverse rotating lifts and stretch blocks."
— 2018, Super Mario Bros. Encyclopedia, Milwaukie: Dark Horse, →OCLC, page 65:
"Mario levels are usually indicated to belong to one of five types (overworld, underground, athletic, castle, underwater)². The type determines the aesthetic style of the level, but also affects the challenges that are posed. For example, athletic levels usually contain platforms that are spaced far apart, as well as moving platforms. They thus require precise and timed jumps to traverse."
— 2019, S. M. Lucas, V. Volz, “Tile pattern KL-divergence for analysing and evolving game levels”, in Proceedings of the Genetic and Evolutionary Computation Conference, page 171: