Volleyballers

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. Individuals who participate in a team sport where players hit a ball over a net to score points on the opposing side
2. athletes engaged in a game requiring both skill and coordination to pass, set, and spike a ball
3. members of a competitive group that strategizes to excel in matches played on court or sand surfaces

Etymology: Volleyball was invented in 1895 by William G. Morgan, a physical education director at the YMCA in Holyoke, Massachusetts, who wanted a less strenuous game than basketball for businessmen. Its name came from the way players kept the ball in the air by volleying it back and forth, and the sport's name is what the word "volleyballer" builds on. The noun "volleyballer" is simply "volleyball" with the English suffix "-er," which marks a person who does something. The suffix goes back through Middle English "-er" and Old French "-ier" to the Latin "-arius," which formed nouns for people connected with a trade or activity. The "volley" part descends from the same word that gave us "volley" in the sense of a flight of shot or arrows, borrowed from French "volée," meaning a flying or flight. The plural "volleyballers" is simply the regular plural of "volleyballer," with the final "s" added to the noun.