winner

Etymology

From Middle English wynner, wynnere, equivalent to win + -er. Compare Saterland Frisian Winner (“winner”), West Frisian winner (“winner”), Dutch winner and winnaar (“winner”), German Low German Winner, Gewinner (“winner”), German Gewinner (“winner”), Danish vinder (“winner”), Swedish vinnare (“winner”), Norwegian vinner (“winner”).

noun

1. One who has won or often wins.
   Of all the queer collections of humans outside of a crazy asylum, it seemed to me this sanitarium was the cup winner. […] When you're well enough off so's you don't have to fret about anything but your heft or your diseases you begin to get queer, I suppose. 1913, Joseph C. Lincoln, chapter 5, in Mr. Pratt's Patients
   Remember Rappin' Duke? Duh-ha, duh-ha You never thought that hip-hop would take it this far Now I'm in the limelight 'cause I rhyme tight Time to get paid, blow up like the World Trade Born sinner, the opposite of a winner Remember when I used to eat sardines for dinner 1994, 0:41 from the start, in Juicy (Hip Hop), spoken by The Notorious B.I.G.
2. (sports) A point or goal that wins a competition.
   It was a fitting scoreline on the club's landmark anniversary, and appropriate that Van Persie should get the winner. December 10, 2011, David Ornstein, “Arsenal 1-0 Everton”, in BBC Sport