Basketball is a sport played by two teams of five players on a rectangular court. The object of the game is to score points by shooting a ball through a hoop, or basket, that is mounted on a backboard at each end of the court.

In Engpsh, basketball is pronounced as "bas-kit-bawl". The word "basketball" is a compound noun, with each syllable pronounced separately: "bas" rhymes with "gas", "kit" rhymes with "hit", and "bawl" rhymes with "crawl". The word is often shortened to just "ball" in casual conversation.