The verb form of player is play.

play

Pronunciation: English [ple?], American [ple?].

Definition:

vt. Game; act; play; play; compete with....

vi. Play; play; perform; participate in competitions.

n. Game; competition; script.

Deformations: past tense played, past participle played, present participle playing, third person singular plays, plural plays.

Etymology: Directly derived from the Old English plegian, meaning to move quickly; originally derived from the Germanic West Branch plegan, meaning busy.

Word usage

When play is used alone, it means "playing a certain game". Sometimes it can be said to be play (at), such as play (at) football.

When used alone, play can also mean "play", but it can only be used for children and cannot be used for adults.

Play with means "play (something)", such as play with a ball.

When play is followed by a noun and is used to interpret "acting" in a performance, it is generally analyzed as a transitive verb; when it is used to interpret "pretend...play", it is often analyzed as a copula.