Etymology: < Anglo-Norman rocet, roket, Old French, Middle French (Picardy) roquet, rocquet (1265 or earlier), variants of Anglo-Norman and Old French, Middle French rochet rochet n.¹ Compare earlier rochet n.¹Attested earlier as a surname: Johannes Rokett (c1265), Willelmus Roket (1278), etc., although it is uncertain whether these are to be interpreted as reflecting the Middle English or the Anglo-Norman word.

Etymology: In sense 1 probably < rock n.² + -et suffix¹. Compare French roquet , (regional) rouquet wooden spindle on which silk is spun (1723; < an unattested French word cognate with the Romance forms cited at rock n.² + -et -et suffix¹). In quot. 1611 translating Italian †rocchello (1561; < rocco rock n.² + -ello -ello suffix). In sense 2 < Middle French rocquet, roquet blunt lance head (15th cent.), regional variant of rochet ratchet n.² Compare later ratchet n.² and the Italian noun cited at that entry.

Etymology: < rock n.¹ + -et suffix¹, perhaps after Anglo-Norman rochete, Middle French rochette (feminine noun) small rock (end of the 13th cent.; compare Middle French, French †roquette, in same sense (1546)), Anglo-Norman rocheit, rochet rock (first quarter of the 12th cent.). Compare post-classical Latin rocheta rock, rocky area (1159 in a British source), Old Occitan roqueta small rock (13th cent.).

Etymology: Probably < Middle French roquete, roquette (although this is apparently first attested slightly later: 1505; French roquette ) < Italian ruchetta (1344; also (regional, Venice) †rochetta (14th cent.)) < †ruca , in same sense (1319; < classical Latin ērūca a kind of cabbage: see erucic adj.) + -etta -et suffix¹. Compare Dutch raket (1658; 1554 in Dodoens as †rakette ; also †rocket , †roquette ; < French). Compare earlier rukel n., and also rucola n.

Etymology: < Italian (now historical) rocchetta cylindrical projectile (a1428; also (probably originally regional: Venice) †racchetta , †racheta (a1536)), transferred use of †rocchetta small bobbin (13th cent.; < rocca rock n.² + -etta -et suffix¹), the projectile being so called because its shape is similar to that of a bobbin. Compare post-classical Latin roccheta, rocheta (1379 in an Italian source; 1390 in a Hungarian source), Middle French roquet (masculine noun) incendiary projectile (1561 in an apparently isolated attestation), French roquette (feminine noun) cylindrical projectile giving a burst of light (1752; now historical in this sense; the French noun was reborrowed in the mid 20th cent. from English in the sense ‘missile propelled by a rocket engine’).Compare also ( < Italian) early modern German roget (16th cent., earliest (with added diminutive suffix) as first element of the compound rogettlzeug rockets collectively), ragget , raggete , rakkete , raquete , etc. (German Rakete ), which has the senses ‘pyrotechnic projectile’ (16th cent.), ‘cylindrical projectile used for signalling or as an incendiary missile’ (17th cent.), (now usually) ‘elongated device or craft in which a rocket engine is the means of propulsion, especially as used in warfare or space exploration’ (20th cent.). Compare also (probably via German) Dutch raket (1740 as †raquete , †rakette ), Swedish raket (1635; 1624 as †racket ), early modern Danish racket , raket , rakit (Danish raket ). The origin of the German forms with medial -a- is unclear; they may reflect the Italian variant forms with medial -a- , or show alteration by folk-etymological association with German †raket , †rakete , †raggeten racket n.¹ It is uncertain whether the β. forms were influenced by the nouns in the other Germanic languages which show medial -a-. Influence of French †raquette, rare variant of roquette, is unlikely, as the French form with medial -a- is only recorded in a small number of 19th-cent. dictionaries of the language, and may never have had genuine currency (it first appears in the 1842 supplement to the Academy dictionary, published in Brussels, which suggests that it may perhaps show influence from raket).

Etymology: Origin uncertain. Perhaps a transmission error for rochet n.², or perhaps a variant of that word, influenced by folk-etymological association with roche n.¹ or its French etymon.

Etymology: < rocket n.⁵