game
n. countablen. an activity you do for fun that usually has rules and a winner. It can also mean a single match in a sport like tennis or football.
n. a structured activity or competition played according to specific rules for entertainment or sport. Often refers to a single instance of play within a larger tournament or season.
We like to play a board game every Friday night.
The players shook hands at the end of the game to show respect for their opponents.
While the physical demands of the game are significant, professional athletes often argue that the mental strategy required to outmaneuver an opponent is what truly determines the victor.
From Middle English game, gamen, gammen, from Old English gamen (“sport, joy, mirth, pastime, game, amusement, pleasure”), from Proto-West Germanic gaman, from Proto-Germanic gamaną (“amusement, pleasure, game", literally "participation, communion, people together”), from ga- (collective prefix) + mann- (“man”); or alternatively from ga- + a root from Proto-Indo-European men- (“to think, have in mind”). Cognate with Yola gaame, gaaume, gaume (“game”), Old Frisian game, gome (“joy, amusement, entertainment”), Dutch gemelijk (“cantankerous, crabbed”), Middle High German gamen (“joy, amusement, fun, pleasure”), Danish gammen (“merriment”), Icelandic, Norwegian Nynorsk gaman (“joy, fun”), Swedish gamman (“mirth, rejoicing, merriment”). Related to gammon, gamble.
Commonly used with the verbs 'play' or 'win'. When referring to wild animals hunted for sport or food, it is uncountable.