video game

See also: videogame, vídeo-game, and vídeo game

English

Etymology

From video +‎ game.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈvɪdiːəʊ̯ˌɡeɪm/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈvɪdioʊ̯ˌɡeɪm/
• Hyphenation: vid‧eo game

Noun

video game (plural video games)

1. A type of game, existing as and controlled by software, usually run by a video game console or a computer, played on a monitor or television screen, and controlled by a joypad, joystick, keyboard, mouse, or paddle. [from 1973]
   • 2011 October 7, Lana Del Rey; Justin Parker (lyrics and music), “Video Games”, in Born to Die, performed by Lana Del Rey:

     Swinging in the backyard / Pull up in your fast car whistling my name / Open up a beer / And you say get over here and play a video game / […] / I say you the bestest / Lean in for a big kiss, put his favorite perfume on / Go play your video game

Alternative forms

• videogame

Related terms

• computer game
• electronic game
• mobile game
• video gaming

Translations

type of game existing as and controlled by software

• Afrikaans: videospeletjie
• Arabic: لَعْبَةْ فِيدِيُو‎ f (laʕbat fīdiyū)
• Asturian: videoxuegu m
• Azerbaijani: video oyun
• Breton: c'hoari video
• Bulgarian: видеоигра́ f (videoigrá)
• Catalan: videojoc (ca) m
• Corsican: videoghjocu m, videughjocu m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 電子遊戲／电子游戏 (zh) (diànzǐ yóuxì), 電腦遊戲／电脑游戏 (diànnǎo yóuxì)

• Classical Nahuatl: chīuhpōhualhuaztli patōlli
• Czech: videohra f, počítačová hra f
• Danish: computerspil (da) n (computer), konsolspil n (console). videospil n (console, rare)
• Dutch: videospel (nl) n, videospelletje (nl) n, game (nl) m
• Dzongkha: བརྙན་འཁོར་རྩེདམོ (brnyan 'khor rtsedmo)
• Esperanto: videoludo
• Estonian: videomäng
• Faroese: telduspøl
• Finnish: videopeli (fi)
• French: jeu vidéo (fr) m
• Galician: videoxogo m
• Georgian: ვიდეო თამაში (video tamaši), ვიდეოთამაში (videotamaši)
• German: Videospiel (de) n, Computerspiel (de) n
• Greek: βιντεοπαιχνίδι (el) n (vinteopaichnídi)
• Haitian Creole: jwèt videyo
• Hebrew: מִשְׂחַק מַחְשֵׁב‎ (he) m (miskhak makhšev), מִשְׂחַק וִידֵאוֹ‎ m (miskhak vide'o)
• Hindi: वीडियो गेम m (vīḍiyo gem)
• Hungarian: videojáték (hu)
• Icelandic: tölvuleikur m
• Ido: videoludo
• Irish: cluiche físeán m, físchluiche m, cluiche físe m
• Italian: videogioco (it) m
• Japanese: テレビゲーム (terebi gēmu), ビデオゲーム (bideo gēmu)
• Kazakh: бейне ойын (beine oiyn)
• Khmer: ហ្គេមវីដេអូ (geimviideeʼou), វីដេអូហ្គេម (viideeʼouhkeim), ហ្គេម (geim)
• Korean: 비디오 게임 (bidio geim)
• Kyrgyz: видео оюн (video oyun)
• Lao: ວິ​ດີ​ໂອ​ເກມ (wi dī ʼō kēm)
• Latin: lūdus ēlectrōnicus, lūdus vīsuālis
• Lithuanian: video žaidimai
• Macedonian: видеои́гра f (videoígra)
• Malay: permainan video
• Malayalam: വീഡിയോ ഗെയിം (vīḍiyō geyiṃ)
• Marathi: संगणक खेळ m (saṅgṇak kheḷ), व्हिडियो गेम m (vhiḍiyo gem)
• Nahuatl: videopatolli, tepoztlamahuizoloni patolli
• Navajo: ániʼ ííłdinii
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: videospill n

  Nynorsk: videospel n

• Occitan: videojòc (oc) m
• Pashto: ویډیو لوبه‎ m
• Persian: بازیهای رایانه‎ (bâzihâ-ye râyâne)
• Polish: gra wideo f
• Portuguese: videojogo (pt) m, vídeo game (pt) m
• Punjabi: ਵਿਡਿਓ-ਗੇਮ f (viḍio-gem)
• Romanian: joc video (ro) n
• Russian: компью́терная игра́ (ru) f (kompʹjúternaja igrá), видеоигра́ (ru) f (videoigrá)
• Serbo-Croatian: видео игра f, video igra f
• Spanish: juego de video, videojuego (es)
• Swahili: mchezo wa video
• Swedish: tv-spel (sv) n, dataspel (sv) n, datorspel (sv) n, videospel n
• Thai: เกมคอมพิวเตอร์
• Turkish: bilgisayar oyunu (tr)
• Ukrainian: відеогра́ f (videohrá)
• Uzbek: kompyuter oʻyinlari
• Vietnamese: trò chơi điện tử, game (vi)
• Welsh: gêm fideo f
• West Frisian: kompjûterspultsje
• Zulu: umdlalo we video, umdlalo wevidiyo

Further reading

• video game on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Douglas Harper (2001–2023), “video”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.

Portuguese

Alternative forms

• videogame, vídeo-game, vídeo game, vídeo game, videogueime (rare)

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English video game.

Pronunciation

 

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˌvi.de.oˈɡej.mi/ [ˌvi.de.oˈɡeɪ̯.mi], /ˌvi.d͡ʒi.oˈɡej.mi/ [ˌvi.d͡ʒɪ.oˈɡeɪ̯.mi], (faster pronunciation) /ˌvi.d͡ʒjoˈɡej.mi/ [ˌvi.d͡ʒjoˈɡeɪ̯.mi]

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˌvi.de.oˈɡej.mi/ [ˌvi.de.oˈɡeɪ̯.mi], /ˌvi.d͡ʒi.oˈɡej.mi/ [ˌvi.d͡ʒɪ.oˈɡeɪ̯.mi], (faster pronunciation) /ˌvi.d͡ʒjoˈɡej.mi/ [ˌvi.d͡ʒjoˈɡeɪ̯.mi]
  • (Southern Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˌvi.de.oˈɡej.me/ [ˌvi.de.oˈɡeɪ̯.me]

 

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /ˌvi.djɔˈɡɐj.m(ɨ)/ [ˌvi.ðjɔˈɣɐj.m(ɨ)]

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /ˌvi.djɔˈɡɐj.m(ɨ)/ [ˌvi.ðjɔˈɣɐj.m(ɨ)]
  • (Central Portugal) IPA^(key): /ˌvi.djɔˈɡej.m(ɨ)/ [ˌvi.ðjɔˈɣej.m(ɨ)]
  • (Southern Portugal) IPA^(key): /ˌvi.djɔˈɡe.m(ɨ)/ [ˌvi.ðjɔˈɣe.m(ɨ)]

Noun

video game m (plural video games)

1. (Brazil) video game (software game)

   Synonym: videojogo

2. (Brazil) video game console

   Synonyms: (Portugal) consola, (Brazil) console

Quotations

For quotations using this term, see Citations:video game.