Scoring plays in American football worth six points, achieved when a player carries or catches the ball in the opponent's end zone.
Compound of 'touch' (Middle English touchen from Old French tochier) and 'down' (Old English dūne). Originally referred to the act of touching the ball down behind the goal line in rugby, adopted into American football in the 1870s.
The term 'touchdown' originally came from rugby, where players literally had to touch the ball down to the ground in the end zone to score. Interestingly, in American football today, you don't actually need to touch the ball to the ground - just breaking the plane of the goal line with possession is sufficient!
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