Sixers

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A colloquial term used to refer to basketball players on a team based in Philadelphia
2. A nickname that may also represent a particular fan group supporting the Philadelphia 76ers basketball team
3. An informal reference to someone or something associated with the number six, often used in sports contexts

Etymology: "Sixers" is the plural of "sixer", a word built from "six" and the agent suffix "-er". Its common sense of a team of six or a six-run hit comes from a Hindi source: "chakkā" (छक्का), meaning a six, which English cricket writers calqued into "sixer" when describing a six-run hit. The word's cricket meaning is the one from which the basketball sense later grew. The basketball use is a separate, later extension. The Philadelphia 76ers, formed in 1963 from the Syracuse Nationals, took their name from the 1776 date of American independence, and fans shortened the team name to "Sixers". The plural "sixers" therefore names the team's players, and the word has come to refer to the team itself as much as to any individual member.