ソフトボール
解説 Definition
ソフトボールという意味です。英語の softball は球技そのものや、その競技で使うボールを指し、日本語の「ソフトボール」とほぼ同じ意味で使われます。
Softball is a bat-and-ball sport related to baseball, usually played with a larger ball on a smaller field and commonly using underarm pitching. The noun can also refer to the ball used in this sport.
覚え方のコツ Memory Tip
soft「比較的やわらかい」＋ ball「球」という見通しのよい複合語。ただし実際の競技球が柔らかいとは限らず、baseball より大きな球を下手投げで投げる競技として区別する。play softball は競技、a softball は一個のボールを指す。softball game/team の組み合わせも一緒に覚える。
The structure is transparent: soft plus ball. The name historically contrasts the game with baseball, although a modern softball is not necessarily soft. Remember the sport by its typical features: a larger ball, a smaller field, and usually an underarm pitch. Use no article when speaking generally about the activity, as in “We played softball,” but use a softball when referring to one ball. Useful combinations include softball game, softball team, softball player, and play softball. Comparing it with baseball helps fix both the shared bat-and-ball idea and the differences.
例文
We played softball after school.
私たちは放課後にソフトボールをしました。
My sister likes softball.
私の姉はソフトボールが好きです。
The softball game starts at three.
ソフトボールの試合は3時に始まります。
softball の類義語・関連語
派生語
紛らわしい語
softball の語源・成り立ち Etymology
softball は soft「やわらかい」と ball「球」を組み合わせた複合語で、19世紀アメリカ英語に現れました。硬球 baseball に対して、よりやわらかい大きめの球を使う競技だからこの名で、意味がそのまま形に出ています。関連語は softballer, baseball。
Softball is an American English compound of soft and ball. Forms of the game developed in the late nineteenth century, initially using equipment that distinguished it from conventional baseball, and the name softball became established later. The word now names both the organized bat-and-ball sport and its larger ball. Its modern meaning should not be taken to imply that every regulation softball is literally soft.
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