Etymology

cricket

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Today it means: An insect in the order Orthoptera, especially family Gryllidae, that makes a chirping sound by rubbing its wing casings against combs on its hind legs. Full definition →

Middle English creket ← Old French criket ← Middle Dutch kricken
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cricket · noun1

  1. Proto-West Germanic · derived from*krakōn
  2. Middle Dutch · derived fromkricken“to creak; crack”
  3. Old French · derived fromcriket
  4. Middle English · inherited fromcreket
  5. English todaycricket

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, 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.

cricket · noun, verb2

  1. Dutch · derived frommet de krik ketsen“to chase a ball with a curved stick”
  2. English todaycricket

Perhaps from a Flemish dialect of Dutch met de krik ketsen (“to chase a ball with a curved stick”).

cricket · noun3

The etymology is unknown. A few similar words exist in Germanic languages, such as Norwegian krakk (“stool”).

Words from the same roots

Proto-West Germanic*krakōn all →

kestrelcrickcreakcrakechirkcharktocrack

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.