Dictionary

pickleball en · NOUN

Etymology

From pickle boat and ball. Coined by the sport inventor's wife who was reminded "of the pickle boat in rowing where oarsmen were chosen from the leftovers of other boats." Similarly, the game initially used left-over equipment from badminton, table tennis, and wiffleball.

Meanings

1. (uncountable) A racquet sport resembling tennis, played with solid paddles and a perforated ball, which combines elements of badminton, table tennis and wiffleball.
   • Forget Yankees versus Red Sox: Today’s fiercest sports feud may be between tennis and pickleball, since the latter’s popularity soared during the pandemic. 2026 April 15, Holly Burns, “Tennis vs. Pickleball: What’s a Better Workout?”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:
   • It’s hard to say whether Corona was actually playing pickleball or was just nowhere near Slowjamastan at the time of the burglary and thinks it’s funny to say he was playing pickleball. 2025 February 1, Noah Goldberg, “He runs a desert micro-nation by the Salton Sea. Population Zero.”, in Los Angeles Times, archived from the original on 01 Feb 2025:
   • For the rapidly decreasing number of Americans who've never heard of pickleball, the obscure paddleball game is America's fastest growing sport for the second year in a row. 2022 February 19, Shannon Mullen, “America's fastest growing sport is a cross between tennis, ping pong, and badminton”, in National, NPR, retrieved 19 Feb 2022:
2. (countable) The ball used in the sport of pickleball.

Forms

Deriveds

pickleballer · pickler · pukaball

Translations (9)

ru пиклбол (sport) · sv pickelboll (sport) · pl piłka do pickleballa (ball used in sport) · sv pickleball (sport) · cmn 匹克球 (sport) · pl pickleball (sport) · haw pukaball (ball used in sport) · vi pickleball (sport) · haw pukaball (sport)