cricket
/ˈkɹɪkɪt/noun, verb
cricket is spelled C-R-I-C-K-E-T: 7 letters and 2 syllables. It appears 25 times per million words in written English, the 3,683rd most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, cricket 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” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of cricket is crickets.
How many letters and syllables are in cricket?
| Letters | 7: C-R-I-C-K-E-T |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 25 times per million words; the 3,683rd most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Rhymes with |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How common is cricket?
Cricket appears 25 times per million words in written English, the 3,683rd most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce cricket?
- US /ˈkɹɪkɪt/
- /ˈkɾɪkɪt/
- /ˈkɹək.kət/
Cricket has 2 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-cricket.wav, En-us-cricket.ogg, En-au-cricket.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What rhymes with cricket?
2 words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as cricket from its last stressed vowel (/ɪkɪt/):
Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).
Forms of cricket
- crickets plural, present, singular, he/she/it
- cricketing participle, present
- cricketed participle, past
- crecket
- cracket
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does cricket mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
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.
- 2
USslangIn the form crickets: absolute silence; no communication.
- 3
A signalling device used by soldiers in hostile territory to identify themselves to a friendly in low visibility conditions.
- 4
slangAn aural warning sound consisting of a continuously-repeating chime, designed to be difficult for pilots to ignore.
- 5
A game played outdoors with bats and a ball between two teams of eleven, popular in England and many Commonwealth countries.
- 6
UKAn act that is fair and sportsmanlike.
- 7
A variant of the game of darts. See Cricket (darts).
- 8
A wooden footstool.
- 9
A relatively small area of a roof constructed to divert water from a horizontal intersection of the roof with a chimney, wall, expansion joint, or other projection.
verb
- 1
rareTo play the game of cricket.
Judge: Your family is in destitute circumstances. How do you get your living? Bannerman: By cricketing, your Worship.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Cricket in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | grillon, cri-cri, criquet , cricket |
| German | Grille , Cricket, Kricket |
| Portuguese | grilo , críquete |
| Spanish | grillo , críquet, cricket |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does cricket come from?
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.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).