mallet

UK: /ˈmælɪt/ US: /ˈmælɪt/ ,(mal′it)

WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2025

mal•let /ˈmælɪt/   n. [countable]

1. Building a hammerlike tool with an enlarged head, typically of wood, used for driving another tool.
2. Games the wooden implement used to strike a ball in croquet or polo.

WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2025

mal•let  (mal′it), n. 

1. Building a hammerlike tool with a head commonly of wood but occasionally of rawhide, plastic, etc., used for driving any tool with a wooden handle, as a chisel, or for striking a surface.
2. Games the wooden implement used to strike the balls in croquet.
3. Games [Polo.] the long-handled stick, or club, used to drive the ball.

• Middle French, equivalent. to mail maul + -et -et
• late Middle English maillet 1375–1425

Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::

mallet / ˈmælɪt/ noun

1. a tool resembling a hammer but having a large head of wood, copper, lead, leather, etc, used for driving chisels, beating sheet metal, etc
2. a long stick with a head like a hammer used to strike the ball in croquet or polo

Etymology: 15th Century: from Old French maillet wooden hammer, diminutive of mail maul (n)