# rocket

> English word · Noun · IPA /ˈɹɒk.ɪt/ · frequency rank #4,264

## Definitions
1. A projectile.
2. A projectile.
3. A projectile.
4. A projectile.
5. Figurative uses.
6. Figurative uses.
7. Figurative uses.
8. Figurative uses.
9. Figurative uses.

## Etymology
From Italian rocchetta, from Old Italian rocchetto (“rocket”, literally “a bobbin”), diminutive of rocca (“a distaff”), from Lombardic rocko (“spinning wheel”), from Proto-West Germanic *rokkō, from Proto-Germanic *rukkô (“a distaff, a staff with flax fibres tied loosely to it, used in spinning thread”). Cognate with Old High German rocco, rocko, roccho, rocho ("a distaff"; > German Rocken (“a distaff”)), Swedish rock (“a distaff”), Icelandic rokkur (“a distaff”), Middle English rocke (“a distaff”). More at rock⁴.
For the meaning development, compare fuselage, ultimately from Latin fūsus (“spindle, spinning wheel”).

## Easily confused with
- **rocks** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/rocket-vs-rocks)
- **rocky** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/rocket-vs-rocky)
- **Rockies** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/rocket-vs-rockies)
- **rock** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/rock-vs-rocket)
- **roche** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/roche-vs-rocket)
- **rocker** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/rocker-vs-rocket)
- **racket** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/racket-vs-rocket)
- **Rickey** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/rickey-vs-rocket)
- **rackets** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/rackets-vs-rocket)
- **rickety** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/rickety-vs-rocket)

## Common misspellings (9)
`orcket`, `rcoket`, `roccket`, `rocekt`, `rockett`, `rockket`, `rockte`, `rokcet`, `rrocket`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/rocket