Sport & ContestGreek → English
Heptathlon
/hɛpˈtæθlɒn/noun
A women's track and field event of seven disciplines contested over two days.
The Greek roots
ἑπτά
heptá
seven
ἆθλον
âthlon
contest, prize
Literally: “seven contests”
The story of the word
Seven contests, made on the pattern of the decathlon. The event replaced the women's pentathlon in 1981 and entered the Olympics at Los Angeles in 1984, adding the javelin and an 800 metres that decides most of them. The Greek pieces are twenty-five centuries old; the compound is younger than many of the athletes who have competed in it.
- How it travelled
- Ancient Greek → modern coinage → English
Same family
decathlonpentathlonheptagonbiathlon
In a sentence
She went into the last event of the heptathlon needing a personal best.
Heptathletes tend to be the fittest people at any athletics meeting.