The Origin of “Hat Trick”

wondrous memeAll three of my boys play soccer, and a common phrase we hear out on the pitch is “he scored a hat trick!” If you’re not familiar with soccer or cricket, you might not understand why a hat trick causes so much celebration. I’m here to explain.

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When a player in soccer, or other goal scoring sports, gets three goals in one game, people say he or she has scored a “hat trick”. But since when does “hat” have anything to do with three? Merriam-Webster had the scoop.

Hat Trick:

  1. the retiring of three batsmen with three consecutive balls by a bowler in cricket
  2. the scoring of three goals in one game by a single player
  3. a series of three victories, successes, or related accomplishments

The phrase comes from British cricket. When a player retired three batsmen with three consecutive balls, the club gave him with a new hat to honor his accomplishment. Hence, “hat trick”. The term expanded to include one player scoring three goals in any appropriate sport, and eventually it came to mean three major achievements in any field. It’s now sometimes used in baseball when a batter gets three hits during three turns at bat.

One of my favorite soccer players fighting for a "Hat Trick".  It's okay to grab an arm, right? ;)
One of my favorite soccer players fighting for a “Hat Trick”. It’s okay to grab an arm, right? 😉

 

Word Nerd Workout

Can you share another term from sports that has an interesting background? Check out my posts on the meanings of coach and compete. (Originally, “coach” was all about “carriages”!)

Thanks for getting nerdy with me.

Julia

Julia Tomiak
I believe in the power of words to improve our lives, and I help people find interesting words to read. Member of SCBWI.

12 Comments

  1. I can’t think of another sports term, but I like this background piece on hat trick. I had no idea of the origin, but I’m going to pay closer attention in the future.

  2. I had a couple of these during my soccer years (2nd grade through part of college), but boy did they feel cool 🙂 Love the photo of your son! Arm-holding’s legal if the ref doesn’t catch it 🙂

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