Ticket

How to spell ticket

6 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce ticket

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does ticket mean?

1. nounA printed or digital slip that grants entry, travel, or a numbered place.
2. nounAn official notice that records a traffic or parking offence and its fine.
3. verbTo issue someone an official penalty notice, especially for a driving offence.

Ticket in a sentence

• noun

  She booked a return ticket to Edinburgh online.

• noun

  He found a parking ticket tucked under his windscreen wiper.

• verb

  Officers will ticket any car left in the loading bay.

• noun

  Keep your ticket handy for the inspector on the train.

• noun

  Speeding through that junction earned her a hefty ticket.

• verb

  Wardens routinely ticket vehicles parked on the double yellow lines.

Where does ticket come from?

Language of origin: French

The word arrived in English in the 1520s from the Old French estiquet or estiquette, which meant a little note, label, or memorandum that was stuck up or fastened to something. That noun grew out of the verb estiquier, meaning 'to stick' or 'to attach', so the very first sense was literally a slip of paper pinned in place. The same French root gives us 'etiquette', because the rules of courtly behaviour were once written on small posted cards. From the idea of an attached label, English shifted the meaning toward a printed slip that grants admission or proves payment, and later toward an official notice such as a parking fine. The doubled inner sound is spelled with a single 'ck' followed by '-et', a hangover from the French diminutive ending, which is why the word ends in '-et' rather than the more obvious '-it'.

How the word is built

• ticket (from Old French estiquet, a little note or label that was stuck up or attached)