Olympic

The word “Olympic” means relating to the Olympic Games, or of a scale and standard associated with them. In plain terms, to do with the Olympic Games, or (informally) impressively large-scale.

“Olympic” is pronounced uh-LIHM-pihk (/əˈlɪmpɪk/ in IPA).

Here is “Olympic” used in a sentence: “The hotel has an olympic-sized swimming pool.”

“Olympic” is an adjective.

“Olympic” is a fairly common word in modern English, usually learned at around the A2 level.

Olympic is an adjective describing the Games themselves — an Olympic medal, an Olympic record. Olympian is usually a noun for an athlete who competes in them, or an adjective meaning lofty and godlike, linked to Mount Olympus. So an Olympian wins Olympic events; the two words are related but not interchangeable.

It describes something built to the scale set by Olympic competition, most famously an Olympic-sized swimming pool measuring fifty metres long. More loosely, calling anything Olympic-sized means it is impressively large or ambitious. The phrase borrows the Games' reputation for grand scale to suggest top-level standards and dimensions.

The name comes from Olympia, the sanctuary in ancient Greece where the original Games were held in honour of the god Zeus. When the modern Games were revived in 1896, they kept the historic name. So Olympic literally means 'of Olympia,' tying today's competition to a tradition thousands of years old.