Criket

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A bat-and-ball team sport played on a grass pitch between two sides of eleven players ; a jumping insect whose males produce a chirping sound by rubbing their wings
2. A team game played with a bat and ball on a grass field between two sides ; a leaping insect known for the chirping song the males make
3. The bat-and-ball sport contested on a large oval field by two teams ; a small hopping insect, related to grasshoppers, that makes a shrill chirp

Etymology: The sport's name may come from a much older sense of a simple stick or post. Some scholars link the root to Middle Dutch "krick," meaning a stick or crutch, and to Old French "criquet," a kind of stool or post. Early players may have used a low stool or a stick as the target, which would explain the name, but this is uncertain. The insect and the game are probably not related. The insect's name comes from Old French "criquer," meaning to creak, an imitation of its chirping. The overlap in spelling is a coincidence of separate roots that happened to converge in English.