means The sport of descending snow-covered slopes while standing sideways on a single broad board strapped to both feet.

from A plain compound of "snow" and "board" — both ancient Germanic words, "snow" tracing back through Old English "snāw" and "board" from "bord," a plank or table. The activity is mid-20th-century American, growing out of homemade riding toys; the most famous ancestor was the "Snurfer" (a portmanteau of "snow" and "surfer") sold in the 1960s, which gives away the sport's spiritual debt to surfing and skateboarding. "Snowboard" as the settled name for the gear and the pastime took hold as the sport matured in the 1970s and 80s.