cricket
n. uncountablen. a popular outdoor game played with a bat and ball between two teams of eleven players. You score points by hitting the ball and running between two sets of wooden sticks called wickets.
n. an outdoor game played with bats, a ball, and wickets between two teams of eleven players. The term is also used figuratively in British English to describe fair or honorable behavior, often in the phrase 'it's not cricket'.
We spent the entire afternoon playing cricket in the park.
The national team traveled to London to compete in the international cricket tournament this summer.
While the technical nuances of cricket can be difficult for newcomers to grasp, the sport remains a central pillar of cultural identity across many Commonwealth nations.
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.
Perhaps from a Flemish dialect of Dutch met de krik ketsen (“to chase a ball with a curved stick”).
The etymology is unknown. A few similar words exist in Germanic languages, such as Norwegian krakk (“stool”).
Uncountable when referring to the sport; countable when referring to the insect of the same name.