English
crocket
Crocket comes from Anglo-Norman croquet ‘curl of hair’, and goes back to Old French croc ‘hook’.
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400croc1‘hook’
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400crochet1diminutive of croc
- Anglo-Normanc. 1066–1400croquet1‘curl of hair’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500croket1
- Englishtodaycrocket1
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
- 1 Wiktionary, English crocket
Earlier history uncertain. See Wiktionary.
Lineage
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400crocWiktionary, English crocket‘hook’
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400crochetWiktionary, English crocketdiminutive of croc
- Anglo-Normanc. 1066–1400croquetWiktionary, English crocket‘curl of hair’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500croketWiktionary, English crocket
- EnglishtodaycrocketWiktionary, English crocket
The story
From Middle English croket, from Anglo-Norman croquet (‘curl of hair’), from Old Northern French, variant of Old French crochet, diminutive of croc (‘hook’), which is also present in English archaically in the architectural sense as crochet, crotchet.
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *gerg- ‘tracery, basket, twist’
through Proto-Germanic *krōkaz ‘hook’
through Old Norse krókr ‘hook, bend, bight’
through Old French croc ‘hook’
through Old French crochet
Today it means
noun Any of a series of hook-shaped decorative floral elements used in Gothic architecture.
Sources
Sources: Wiktionary, “crocket”. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.
Etymograph / Old French croc / crocket