Lacrosse
/ləˈkrɒs/noun
A team game in which players use long-handled sticks with nets to carry and throw a ball into a goal.
Did you know?French missionaries named the Indigenous North American game jeu de la crosse because its hooked stick resembled a bishop’s crozier, not because the sport originated in Europe.
Etymological Timeline
Medieval Latin
Latin
crocia
“A hooked or bent staff, especially a bishop’s pastoral staff”
12th–13th Century
Old French
croce
“A crozier or hooked staff”
16th Century
French
crosse
“A crozier, curved staff, or hooked stick”
1636
French
jeu de la crosse
““Game of the crozier”; Jesuit Jean de Brébeuf’s description of an Indigenous North American stick-and-ball game”
18th–19th Century
French/English
la crosse
“The name applied by French speakers to the Indigenous game and its stick”
Modern English
English
lacrosse
“A team sport played with netted sticks and a ball”