How Did Badminton Get Its Name?

Badminton is a game somewhat like tennis, because in both games an object is hit over a net with rackets.  But the badminton racket is lighter than a tennis racket and a feathered shuttlecock, or “bird,” is hit instead of a tennis ball.

Badminton is a present-day version of an earlier and simpler game called “battledore and shuttlecock,” which was first played several hundred years ago in India and other Eastern countries.

A group of Englishmen brought it to England. It was played so much at a place in England called Badminton that it was named after this place.

The object of the game is to bat the shuttlecock from one player to the other without allowing it to fall to the ground or bounce as a tennis ball does.

A badminton shuttlecock is often called a “bird” because it has real feathers tied to a piece of cork.The feathers guide the shuttlecock when you hit it over the net.

The “bird” often used in badminton today has a plastic crown, instead of the old feather crown. – Dick Rogers