wicket

American  

[wik-it] / ˈwɪk ɪt /

noun

wickets plural

1. a window or opening, often closed by a grating or the like, as in a door, or forming a place of communication in a ticket office, a teller's cage in a bank, etc.

2. Croquet. a hoop or arch.

3. a turnstile in an entrance.

4. a small door or gate, especially one beside, or forming part of, a larger one.

5. a small gate by which a canal lock is emptied.

6. a gate by which a flow of water is regulated, as to a waterwheel.

7. Cricket.

   1. either of the two frameworks, each consisting of three stumps with two bails in grooves across the tops, at which the bowler aims the ball.

   2. the area between these frameworks; the playing field.

   3. one batsman's turn at the wicket.

   4. the period during which two players bat together.

   5. a batsman's innings that is not completed or not begun.

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idioms

1. to be on / have / bat a sticky wicket, to be at or have a disadvantage.

wicket British  

/ ˈwɪkɪt /

noun

1. a small door or gate, esp one that is near to or part of a larger one

2. a small window or opening in a door, esp one fitted with a grating or glass pane, used as a means of communication in a ticket office, bank, etc

3. a small sluicegate, esp one in a canal lock gate or by a water wheel

4. a croquet hoop

5. 1. cricket either of two constructions, placed 22 yards apart, consisting of three pointed stumps stuck parallel in the ground with two wooden bails resting on top, at which the batsman stands

   2. the strip of ground between these

   3. a batsman's turn at batting or the period during which two batsmen bat

      a third-wicket partnership

   4. the act or instance of a batsman being got out

      the bowler took six wickets

6. to act as a wicketkeeper

7. informal in an awkward situation

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• half-wicket
  noun

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• wickets
  plural

Etymology

Origin of wicket

First recorded in 1200–50; Middle English wiket, from Anglo-French; Old French guischet, from Germanic; compare Middle Dutch wiket “wicket,” equivalent to wik- (akin to Old English wīcan “to yield”; see weak) + -et, noun suffix

Explanation

A wicket is a little gate or door. In sports, wicket can refer to either the hoop you aim for when hitting a croquet ball or the stump you aim for when batting a cricket ball. The very oldest meaning of wicket is "small door or gate," and it's still used this way sometimes, especially when the door is beside or within a larger one. This type of wicket is often found in a very old garden entrance or the door to a grand castle. Since the 17th century, the cricket meaning has become the most common, although North Americans are usually talking about croquet when they mention wickets.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

wicket wickets

Stokes was in the middle of a bowling spell at the time of the announcement and, with his first delivery after news of his retirement spread, took the wicket of New Zealand's Zak Foulkes.

From BBC ● Jul. 8, 2026

Salt and Curran added 47 off 26 balls for the fifth wicket until Salt sliced the left-arm spin of Axar Patel to backward point.

From BBC ● Jul. 7, 2026

It was immediately followed by him taking the wicket of Zak Foulkes with his next delivery.

From BBC ● Jun. 29, 2026

Though New Zealand did not get away, England did not take a wicket until Izzy Gaze hit Freya Kemp's last ball of the 10th over to long-on.

From BBC ● Jun. 27, 2026

“My advice is to not get tangled up with the law to begin with. Once you do, it’s a sticky wicket, that’s for sure! Not easy to extricate oneself, har har.”

From "The Hidden Gallery" by Maryrose Wood

Nine wickets for 99 runs might be the most consequential batting collapse in English cricketing history, with aftershocks still being felt seven months later.

From BBC ● Jul. 12, 2026

However, two Jasprit Bumrah wickets and a run out saw 107-0 become 109-3 and that record target looked a long way off.

From BBC ● Jul. 12, 2026

More wickets than Darren Gough and Steve Harmison, at a better strike-rate than James Anderson and Ian Botham.

From BBC ● Jun. 29, 2026

South African great Jacques Kallis is the only other man to do a double of 7,000 runs and 250 wickets.

From BBC ● Jun. 28, 2026

If we couldn’t afford a proper cricket ball, we made one out of an old sock stuffed with rubbish; and we drew wickets on the wall in chalk.

From "Malala: The Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Changed the World" by Malala Yousafzai