different between latchkey vs clicket

English

Alternative forms

• latch key
• latch-key

Etymology

latch +? key

Noun

latchkey (plural latchkeys)

1. A key, especially to an outside door.

   Synonym: check key

2. A child who is given a key to the home and is expected to remain at home alone (without adult supervision until the parents return from work).

Adjective

latchkey (not comparable)

1. Equipped with a key; generally in the phrase latchkey child.

English

Etymology 1

Verb

clicket (third-person singular simple present clickets, present participle (UK) clicketting or (US) clicketing, simple past and past participle (UK) clicketted or (US) clicketed)

1. (intransitive, of a fox or foxes) To be in oestrus; to copulate.

   The sound of the clicketting foxes was unmistakable.

Etymology 2

Old French cliquet (“the latch of a door”). See click.

Noun

clicket (plural clickets)

1. (Britain, dialect) The knocker of a door.
2. (Britain, dialect) A latchkey.
   • c. 1400, Geoffrey Chaucer, The Canterbury Tales: The Merchant's Tale (modern translation)

     He carried always the small silver clicket
     With which, as pleased him, he'd unlock the gate.