Crickets

How to spell crickets

8 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce crickets

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does crickets mean?

1. nounSmall jumping insects related to grasshoppers, known for the chirping sound the males produce.
2. nounAn informal expression for an awkward, complete silence, especially when a comment or question gets no response.

Crickets in a sentence

• The warm evening was filled with the chirping of crickets in the garden.

• He asked the board for feedback and got nothing but crickets.

• Pet shops sell crickets as food for reptiles such as geckos.

• After her bold proposal there were just crickets from the room.

Where does crickets come from?

Language of origin: French

Cricket entered English in the late 1300s from the Old French criquet, the name for a small jumping, chirping insect. That French word was itself imitative, formed from the verb criquer, meaning 'to creak' or 'to click', echoing the rasping sound the insect makes by rubbing its wings together. English kept both the spelling and the onomatopoeic logic, so the word literally describes a creaking little noise-maker. In modern use the plural crickets has also become a vivid figure of speech: when a remark or joke is met with total silence, people say there were only crickets, evoking the lonely night-time chirping you hear when no one responds. The sporting game cricket is a separate, later word with a different and disputed origin, so it is not the source of the insect's name.

How the word is built

• cricket (chirping insect, from Old French criquet)
• -s (plural)