Etymology

racket

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Today it means: An implement with a handle connected to a round frame strung with wire, sinew, or plastic cords, and used to hit a ball, such as in tennis or a shuttlecock in badminton. Full definition →

Middle English raket ← Arabic رَاحَةْ اَلْيَد ← Dutch raketsen
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racket · noun, verb1

  1. Middle French · derived fromrachasser“to strike (the ball) back”
  2. Dutch · derived fromraketsen
  3. Arabic · derived fromرَاحَةْ اَلْيَد“palm of the hand”
  4. Middle English · inherited fromraket
  5. English todayracket

From Middle English raket, of uncertain origin. Possibly cognate with Middle French rachette, requette (“palm of the hand”). From Arabic رَاحَةْ اَلْيَد (rāḥat al-yad, “palm of the hand”). Alternatively, the term might be derived from Dutch raketsen instead, from Middle French rachasser (“to strike (the ball) back”).

racket · noun, verb2

Attested since the 1500s, of unclear origin; possibly a metathesis of the dialectal term rattick (“to shake, rattle”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.