sportsmanship
noun
sportsmanship is spelled S-P-O-R-T-S-M-A-N-S-H-I-P: 13 letters and 3 syllables. It appears 1.0 times per million words in written English, the 28,556th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, sportsmanship means “The good attitude/behaviour displayed by players of a game; fairness, determination, magnanimity, courtesy towards opponents, and winning or losing…” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of sportsmanship is sportsmanships.
How many letters and syllables are in sportsmanship?
| Letters | 13: S-P-O-R-T-S-M-A-N-S-H-I-P |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 3 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 1.0 times per million words; the 28,556th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How common is sportsmanship?
Sportsmanship appears 1.0 times per million words in written English, the 28,556th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce sportsmanship?
Sportsmanship has 3 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Forms of sportsmanship
- sportsmanships plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does sportsmanship mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
The good attitude/behaviour displayed by players of a game; fairness, determination, magnanimity, courtesy towards opponents, and winning or losing gracefully.
- 2
The behaviour exhibited in playing sports, either good or bad.
James showed good sportsmanship in consoling Shankar after his wicket fell.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Sportsmanship in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense (good) behavior in sports:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | sportivité |
| German | Sportsgeist, Sportlichkeit |
| Portuguese | espírito esportivo |
| Spanish | deportividad, espíritu deportivo |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does sportsmanship come from?
From sports + -manship.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).