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raquette

racket (sport); snowshoe

noun ra-KET Rare
Travel & Places Movement

Usage Note

Raquette covers both a sports racket (tennis, badminton, squash) and the traditional snowshoe used to walk on snow — des raquettes à neige. The snowshoe sense is especially common in Quebec French. The word comes from the same Arabic root rahat (palm of the hand) that gave English 'racket.' In France, une raquette de ping-pong (table tennis paddle) is common; Canadians use faire de la raquette to mean snowshoeing.

Examples

"Elle a oublié sa raquette de tennis."

Natural Translation

She forgot her tennis racket.

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