• IPA: /ˈkɹɪkɪt/

From Middle English creket, crykett, crykette, from Old French criket (with diminutive -et) from criquer, from Middle Dutch kricken, from Proto-West Germanic *krakōn, from Proto-Germanic *krakōną, related to Middle English creken, criken, all ultimately of imitative origin.

Compare Dutch kriek, Middle Dutch krikel, criekel, crekel ("cricket") (with diminituve -el), Middle Low German krikel, krekel ("cricket"), German Kreckel. More at creak.

cricket (plural crickets)

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.
   1. (US, slang, humorous, in the plural) In the form crickets: absolute silence; no communication.
2. A signalling device used by soldiers in hostile territory to identify themselves to a friendly in low visibility conditions.
3. (aviation, slang) An aural warning sound consisting of a continuously-repeating chime, designed to be difficult for pilots to ignore.

• French: grillon, cri-cri, criquet
• German: Grille
• Italian: grillo
• Portuguese: grilo
• Russian: сверчо́к
• Spanish: grillo

Perhaps from a Flemish dialect of Dutch met de krik ketsen.

cricket (uncountable)

1. (sports) A game played outdoors with bats and a ball between two teams of eleven, popular in England and many Commonwealth countries.
2. (chiefly, British, usually in negative constructions) An act that is fair and sportsmanlike.

   Antonyms: not cricket

   • 1954, The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, volume 7, page 81:

     Robbins went on, "Henry wouldn't do anything that wasn't cricket. Me, I was raised in a river ward and I'm not bothered by niceties. […]

3. A variant of the game of darts. See Cricket (darts).

• French: cricket
• German: Cricket, Kricket
• Italian: cricket
• Portuguese: críquete
• Russian: кри́кет
• Spanish: críquet, cricket

• Italian: fair play

cricket (crickets, present participle cricketing; simple past and past participle cricketed)

1. (rare, intransitive) To play the game of cricket.
   • 1891 May 27, "A Cricketer in Low Circumstances", The Evening News (Sydney); cited in "What do we know about the first Test cricketer?", ESPNcricinfo ↗, 7 August 2016

     Judge: Your family is in destitute circumstances. How do you get your living?
     

     Charles Bannerman: By cricketing, your Worship.

The etymology is unknown. A few similar words exist in Germanic - languages, such as Norwegian krakk.

cricket (plural crickets)

1. (dialectal) A wooden footstool.
2. 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.