Other forms: playgrounds
A playground is the patch of ground where children go to play. Swings, a slide, a climbing frame, a rubbery floor that softens the falls, and a fence around the lot of it. Every primary school has one, and most parks keep one in a corner.
The word stretches: a playground is also anywhere a particular group goes to enjoy itself, which is why a ski resort gets called a playground for the rich. Playground games, playground bullies and playground rules all point back to that patch of tarmac, and to the way children sort each other out when no adult is watching. The word covers the place, not the kit — the swings and the slide are equipment, and the playground is the ground they stand on. At school it is where break happens: the whistle goes and two hundred children pour out onto it.
1nounplaygroundAn outdoor area, usually with swings and other equipment, where children play.
“The school playground was empty except for a football stuck in the netting.”
synonyms: play area, recreation ground
2nounplaceA place where a particular group of people goes to enjoy itself.
“The island has become a playground for people with more money than time.”
playground is an outdoor area.
Playground is play plus ground, and English has been joining those two ideas for a very long time. Old English had pleġstede, a play-place, which came through Middle English as playstede before playground took the job over.
From play + ground. Compare Middle English playstede (“playground”) from Old English pleġstede.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA
Practised in School & Learning, A Man Called Ove, Games & Toys
First appears in chapter 4 of A Man Called Ove.
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