means A fast team sport in which players use curved sticks to drive a puck or ball into the opponents' goal, played on ice or on a field.

from The word's roots are genuinely murky. The most popular guess links it to the Old French 'hoquet,' a shepherd's crook or hooked stick — which fits the curved blade nicely — but this connection is unproven and possibly just a tidy story. The game's name appears in English by the 18th century, though earlier references are thin and scattered. Honest answer: nobody's quite sure where 'hockey' came from.