Today's podictionary word is recreation . For us playing tennis or going on a bike ride or even playing a video game might be called recreation.
This word goes all the way back to Latin through French and has been in English for 600 years or so. The word is easily understood as “re” “create,” “to create again,” and holds the sense that by engaging in some diverting activity we refresh our minds and can approach the daily drudgery anew.
When recreation first appeared in English it's main application was to eating so that we are renewed by stoking up on food. This idea is also behind the word “restaurant,” a place that restores us to vigor when we are tired and hungry.
While recreation has been part of English for 600 years, restaurants haven't been for quite 200 years yet. Of course the precursor to an English restaurant was a French restaurant—from where else?—Paris in 1765. A pleasant form or recreation, I'm sure.
