joueur

Joueur is a masculine noun in French that designates a person who plays a game, sport, or musical instrument, or who participates in a competition. It is used for both amateur and professional participants. The feminine form is joueuse, and the plural forms are joueurs (masculine) and joueuses (feminine). In everyday use, you can say un joueur de football, un joueur d’échecs, or un joueur de piano.

Etymology: the word derives from the verb jouer, to play, which itself comes from Old French and ultimately from Latin iocus, meaning joke or pastime. The related noun jeu (game) and the verb jouer share the same semantic field of play, game, and performance.

Usage: in sports, games, and competitive activities, jouer denotes taking part as a player, as in Les joueurs s’échauffent avant le match. In modern contexts such as video games or e-sports, the term joueur is commonly used to refer to a gamer, for example un joueur de jeux vidéo. In music, a performer on an instrument may be described as un joueur d’orgue or un joueur de piano, though more specific terms like musicien are also common. The masculine form can appear in historical or formal registers to describe actors or performers in a broad sense, but in contemporary French, acteur is typically preferred for an actor.

See also: jeu, jouer, joueuse, joueur professionnel.