Etymologically
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ticket

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /ˈtɪk.ɪt/[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Middle French etiquet (“label, note”), estiquet, with loss of the first syllable,[2][3][4] from Old French estiquette (“a note, label”), especially one fixed to a gate or wall as a public notice,[2][5] literally “something stuck on”,[5] from estiquier “to fix, stick on”,[2][3] from Middle Dutch steken “to stick”[3][6] or Frankish *stikkan,[2][5] related to Old English stician, the source of stick.[2][5] The same French word, borrowed again in the 18th century, gave etiquette.[7][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

A short written note or document, a memorandum: 1528 in the OED and Barnhart,[9][2] the 1520s in Etymonline.[5]

Semantic evolution

A certificate, licence or permit is from 1529,[9][2] and a notice posted in a public place from 1567.[9] The sense of a card or slip that gives its holder a right, as of admission or travel, is first recorded in 1673,[2][7] the 1670s in Etymonline, and probably grew out of the sense of a certificate or permit.[5][2] In American English the list of a party's candidates for election has been called a ticket since 1711.[5][2] Slang the ticket, the correct thing, is from 1838,[5] perhaps from the notion of a winning lottery ticket.[5] An official notice of an offence, especially a traffic offence, is from 1930,[5][9] and a big-ticket item, something expensive, from 1953 in Etymonline.[5] The verb, to put a ticket on, is from 1611;[9][6] issuing a travel ticket is from 1842, and issuing a parking ticket dates from 1955.[5][9]

Timeline

  • 1528 – a short written note.[9][2]
  • 1529 – a certificate, permit.[9][2]
  • 1567 – a public notice.[9]
  • 1611 – verb, to label.[9][6]
  • 1673 – a ticket of admission.[2][7]
  • 1711 – a list of candidates.[5][2]
  • 1838 – the ticket.[5]
  • 1842 – verb, to issue a travel ticket.[5][9]
  • 1930 – a notice of an offence.[5][9]
  • 1955 – to issue a parking ticket to.[5][9]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. A slip of paper or card showing that the holder has paid for or is entitled to a service, such as travel or admission.
  2. A certificate or licence, especially a captain's or pilot's.
  3. A tag or label on goods, giving the price or other details.
  4. The list of a party's candidates for election.
  5. An official notice of a traffic or parking offence.
  6. (informal) The correct or desirable thing: just the ticket.

Verb

  1. To give a ticket to, for travel or admission.
  2. To attach a ticket or label to.
  3. To intend for a particular end or use.
  4. To serve with a notice of an offence: ticketed for illegal parking.

Word family

  • ticketless
  • unticketed

Usage notes

The American Heritage notes that ticket and etiquette both go back to Old French estiquet, but were borrowed at different times with different meanings: ticket in 1528 in the senses “note, notice, certificate”, and etiquette, after the French word had come to mean court ceremonial, in 1750.[7]

References

  1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  3. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  6. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  7. ^ a b c d The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
  8. ^ Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  9. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press