Like many other sports, table tennis began as a mild social diversion. Descending, along with lawn tennis and badminton, from the ancient medieval game of tennis. It was popular in England in the second half of the nineteenth century under its present name and various trade names such as Gossima and Whiff-Whaff. After the name Ping-Pong (an imitation of the sound made by the ball striking the table and the vellum bats that were used) was introduced by J. Jaques & Son, the game became a fashionable craze.

正如其他運動一樣，乒乓球只是社會中無足輕重的一部分。它跟草坪網球和羽毛球都是由網球演變而來的。在十九世紀的后半葉，乒乓球就以其現在的名字或其他商名文明于英國。比如： GOSSIMA ， WHIFF-WHAFF。而當乒乓這個名字被J JAQUES 介紹進來之后，它就開始越來越受歡迎。

The game was popular in Central Europe in 1905-10, and even before this is a modified version had been introduced to Japan , where it later spread to China and Korea. After a period when it had dropped out of favor in Europe, the game was revived in England and Wales in the early twenties. by that time ’Ping-Pong’ had been registered as a trademark, so the earlier name of table tennis was re-introduced. National associations were formed and standardization of the rules began, both in Europe and the Far East.Then, over the next sixty years, table tennis developed into a major worldwide sport, played by perhaps thirty million competitive players and by uncountable millions who play less seriously. However, the game itself has not changed in essence since its earliest days, though it is faster, more subtle and more demanding than it was even only twenty years ago.

在十九世界初期的中歐，乒乓球運動很熱，后來其運動方式稍加修改，傳入日本，而后來又傳入中國和韓國。乒乓球曾經一度銷聲匿跡，在十九世界二十年代早期，它又在英格蘭和威爾士獲得新生。在那時，乒乓球被作為一種商標予以注冊，所以，乒乓球再度浮出人們腦海的記憶。那時也成立了很多國家的協(xié)會，同時在歐洲和遠東，比賽的規(guī)則也被設立。其后的六十年間，它發(fā)展成為一項世界著名的運動。其運動員能達到3千萬，另有無數人以休閑方式接觸乒乓。然而，乒乓由始以來，它的精髓是沒有改變的。盡管現在其要求比20年前要苛刻的多。