Foosball

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A game played on a table with mechanical rods that control small figurines to kick a ball into opposing goals
2. A tabletop sport in which players manipulate handles connected to rows of tiny soccer players to score by propelling a ball downfield
3. An indoor game where teams operate rod-mounted figurines to move and shoot a ball across a playing surface toward the opponent's goal

Etymology: The table-football game takes its name from a German compound, "Fußball", which literally joins "Fuß" (foot) and "Ball" (ball). German speakers used that word for the sport now called football in English, so when the game was adapted in German-speaking lands, its name was built from the English word for the sport. Because of this, "foosball" is a borrowing of a German word that was itself modeled on English, a loop that carried the name across the language boundary and back. The English form "foosball" thus keeps the German "Fuß" in its spelling and sound, while the rest of the compound reflects the English "football" it was modeled on. The word was built from elements that were already familiar to English speakers, so it needed no unusual root to be understood.

Synonyms: table football, table soccer