cricket

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   A team sport played with a bat and ball by two teams of eleven players.

   They spent the whole afternoon playing cricket in the park.

2. 2
   noun

   A small jumping insect that makes a chirping sound by rubbing its wings together.

   We could hear crickets chirping outside all through the warm evening.

Appears in

Simplified etymology

Cricket has two unrelated origins. The game’s name, first recorded in 1575, appears related to French criquet, “a stick,” perhaps referring to the bat or wicket, though its exact origin remains uncertain. The insect name comes from Old French criquet, based on criquer, “to crackle, click, or creak,” in reference to its chirping.

From Middle English creket, crykett, crykette, from Old French criket (with diminutive -et) from criquer (“to make a cracking sound; creak”), from Middle Dutch kricken (“to creak; crack”), from Proto-West Germanic *krakōn, from Proto-Germanic *krakōną, related to Middle English creken, criken (“to creak”), all ultimately of imitative origin. Compare Dutch kriek (“cricket”), Middle Dutch krikel, criekel, crekel (“cricket”) (with diminituve -el), Middle Low German krikel, krekel (“cricket”), German Kreckel (“cricket”). More at creak.

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External links

• Google Images
• Cambridge Dictionary
• Wiktionary