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jai a·lai

(hī lī′, hī ə-lī′, hī′ ə-lī)

A court game in which players use a long hand-shaped basket strapped to the wrist to propel a ball against a wall.

[Spanish (coined by Spanish Basque writer Serafín Baroja (1840–1912) from Basque elements with the intention of replacing the original Basque word for the game pilota (a borrowing of Spanish pelota, ball, which he objected to as a Hispanism in Basque), although his coinage has never been used in Basque itself) : Basque jai, festival + alai, joyous.]

Indo-European & Semitic Roots Appendices

Thousands of entries in the dictionary include etymologies that trace their origins back to reconstructed proto-languages. You can obtain more information about these forms in our online appendices:

Indo-European Roots

Semitic Roots

The Indo-European appendix covers nearly half of the Indo-European roots that have left their mark on English words. A more complete treatment of Indo-European roots and the English words derived from them is available in our Dictionary of Indo-European Roots.

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