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Added 2 October 2026

pocket

/ˈpɒk.ɪt/ noun

In Latin: sacculus Wiktionary

noun Definition from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). Pronunciation from Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org. More about pocket at Wordnik → Where our words come from →

A bag stitched to an item of clothing, used for carrying small items.
A person's financial resources.
I paid for it out of my own pocket.
An indention and cavity with a net sack or similar structure (into which the balls are to be struck) at each corner and one centered on each side of a pool or snooker table.

verb

To put (something) into a pocket.
To cause a ball to go into one of the pockets of the table; to complete a shot.
To take and keep (something, especially money, that is not one's own).
Record executives pocketed most of the young singer's earnings.

adjective

Of a size suitable for putting into a pocket.
a pocket dictionary
Smaller or more compact than usual.
pocket battleship
Belonging to the two initial hole cards.
a pocket pair of kings

Origin

From Middle English pocket (“bag, sack”), from Anglo-Norman poket, Old Northern French poquet, poquete, diminutive of poque, poke (“bag, sack”) (compare modern Norman pouquette and modern French pochette from Old French pochete, from puche), from Frankish *pokō (“pouch”), from Proto-Germanic *puhô (“bag; pouch”), from Proto-Indo-European *bew- (“to blow, swell”). Equivalent to poke + -et. Doublet of pochette. Cognate with Middle Dutch poke, Alemannic German Pfoch (“purse, bag”), Old English pocca, pohha (“poke, pouch, pocket, bag”), Old Norse poki (“bag, pocket”). Compare the related poke (“sack or bag”). See also Modern French pochette and Latin bucca.

From Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org (CC BY-SA)

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