physical education
noun
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The Importance (Linguistic and Otherwise) of Physical Education
Physical education has existed since ancient times, but it wasn’t until several hundred years ago that the term itself (abbreviated as phys ed or PE) came into being. Its earliest known use comes, oddly enough, from a 1748 book titled Critical Reflections on Poetry, Painting, and Music: “Cannot some years prove more favorable than others to the physical education of children. . . ?” A few decades after these words were published, gymnasiums opened across Europe, especially in Germany, where gymnastics associations (or turnvereins) fostered physical health as well as civic involvement and cultural enrichment. Thanks in part to immigration, these clubs, and European enthusiasm for athletics in general, spread to the U.S. During the 19th century, American educators adopted European methods of teaching physical training, and both the word physical education and the phenomenon it represents became well established in this country.
Examples of physical education in a Sentence
Ross Raihala, Twin Cities, 8 May 2025
The potential jurors include a middle school physical education teacher, a mover who finds work on Taskrabbit and a massage therapist and actor who belongs to SAG-AFTRA and the Actors’ Equity unions.
—Ethan Shanfeld, Variety, 6 May 2025
The program, which began in the mid-1990s, was started by Sveen, the late Wheaton College physical education professor Donald Church, and a Wheaton alumnus, Kurt Tillman, who at that time was a schoolteacher.
—Bob Goldsborough, Chicago Tribune, 11 Apr. 2025
The existing tennis courts are lined for pickleball, a popular sport in the school’s physical education program.
—Karen Billing, San Diego Union-Tribune, 25 Mar. 2025
See All Example Sentences for physical education
Cite this Entry
“Physical education.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/physical%20education. Accessed 27 May. 2025.
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