scorer

Word family

• score
  verbA2
• score
  nounA2
• scoring
  nounB1
• scoreless
  adjectiveB1
• scoreboard
  nounB1

Synonym discussion

Sense: noun/1

All four words refer to a player who scores points or goals, but they differ in sport and connotation. Scorer is the broadest term and works in any game where points are gained. Shooter is most common in basketball and ice hockey, emphasising the act of throwing or hitting the ball toward the goal. Striker is largely limited to football (soccer) and field hockey, where it describes a forward whose main role is to score. Marksman suggests precision and is used less often in team sports; it appears more in shooting sports or as a compliment for accuracy. For everyday use, scorer fits all situations, while the other terms add sport-specific colour.

Common collocations

Etymology

Scorer is formed by adding the agent suffix -er ('a person who does something') to the verb score. The verb score traces back to the Old English word scoru, meaning 'twenty' — a reference to the notches cut into a tally stick to keep count. The sense evolved from 'cutting a notch' to 'recording points' and later to 'gaining points in a game'. By the late 1800s, scorer had become the standard word for both a player who gains points and a person who records them.