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wicket

Architecture
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

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The pronunciation guide uses the ARPABET phonetic system—the same system used in speech recognition and text-to-speech applications.

Vowel Examples:
AE1 = cat, bat
EH1 = bed, head
IY1 = see, me
OW1 = go, boat
UW1 = boot, do
Stress Numbers:
0 = no stress (unstressed)
1 = primary stress (loud)
2 = secondary stress (medium)
Example:
AH0 TH IY1 N AH0
= a-THEE-na (Athena)

The stressed syllable (marked with 1) is pronounced louder and clearer than others.

Quick Definition

A wicket is a small gate, especially one set in a fence, hedge, or larger entrance, used for people or small animals to pass through.

Detailed Definition
In Architecture and landscape design, a wicket is a narrow, often simple gate that marks an entrance to a garden, cottage, field, or enclosed area. It may be built into a larger gate or stand alone in a fence or hedge. In poetry, a wicket can suggest a modest rural boundary: it separates spaces while still allowing sight, conversation, and movement across it.
Example
Example in poetry:
In William Rose Benét’s “The Ponies,” the speaker remembers the ponies “huddled thrusting heads across the wicket / Of our cottage.” Here, the wicket is the small cottage gate or fenced entrance. The ponies’ heads crossing it make the boundary seem welcoming and playful rather than restrictive, emphasizing their familiarity with the home and its inhabitants.
Additional Notes
The word wicket comes from an older term for a small door or gate. A wicket is usually smaller than a main gate and is often intended for pedestrians rather than carts, horses, or vehicles. Related architectural terms include gate, garden gate, turnstile, stile, and doorway. A stile is specifically a structure that lets people cross a fence or wall without opening a gate. In other contexts, especially cricket, a wicket has a different meaning; in architectural or rural poetic usage, it ordinarily means a small gate.
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