A racquet is a piece of sports equipment with a long handle attached to a round or oval frame strung with a tight mesh, used to hit a ball or shuttlecock in games like tennis, badminton, and squash. Think of it as an extension of your arm that gives you more reach and power: when you swing a racquet, the strings create a springy surface that sends the ball flying much faster and farther than you could throw it.

Tennis racquets are larger and heavier, designed to smash a fuzzy yellow ball across a court. Badminton racquets are lighter and more delicate, perfect for batting a feathered shuttlecock back and forth. Squash racquets fall somewhere in between. Each sport's racquet is specially designed for its particular game.

You might also see this word spelled racket, which is equally correct. Both spellings work, though racquet is more common when talking about sports equipment.