"Soccer" is a British word, born from Oxford student slang

The word soccer sounds American, but it is thoroughly British in origin. It was coined at the University of Oxford in the 1880s, when students had a fad for shortening words and tacking on an “-er” ending.

The two main codes of the game needed distinguishing: rugby football became “rugger,” and association football - the code that had banned handling the ball - became “assoccer,” soon clipped to “soccer” (sometimes “socker”). It was first recorded around 1891.

The nickname spread, but in Britain it stayed casual and eventually faded in favour of plain “football.” In the United States, where “football” already meant the gridiron game, soccer stuck as the clearer label.

The slang took “-soc-” from the middle of association and added a chummy “-er.”