winner

English

Etymology

From Middle English wynner, wynnere, equivalent to win +‎ -er. Compare Saterland Frisian Winner (“winner”), West Frisian winner (“winner”), Dutch winner and winnaar (“winner”), German Low German Winner, Gewinner (“winner”), German Gewinner (“winner”), Danish vinder (“winner”), Swedish vinnare (“winner”), Norwegian vinner (“winner”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈwɪnə/

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈwɪnɚ/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Homophone: winter (some North American dialects)
• Rhymes: -ɪnə(ɹ)

Noun

winner (plural winners)

1. One who has won or often wins.
   • 1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter V, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y., London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC:

     Of all the queer collections of humans outside of a crazy asylum, it seemed to me this sanitarium was the cup winner. […] When you're well enough off so's you don't have to fret about anything but your heft or your diseases you begin to get queer, I suppose.

   • 1994, 0:41 from the start, in Juicy‎ (Hip Hop), spoken by The Notorious B.I.G.:

     Remember Rappin' Duke? Duh-ha, duh-ha
     You never thought that hip-hop would take it this far
     Now I'm in the limelight 'cause I rhyme tight
     Time to get paid, blow up like the World Trade
     Born sinner, the opposite of a winner
     Remember when I used to eat sardines for dinner

2. (sports) A point or goal that wins a competition.
   • 2011 December 10, David Ornstein, “Arsenal 1-0 Everton”, in BBC Sport:

     It was a fitting scoreline on the club's landmark anniversary, and appropriate that Van Persie should get the winner.

Antonyms

• loser

Derived terms

Translations