Etymology: < French ricochet skipping or skimming of a flat stone on water (1611 in Cotgrave), series of interconnected events (1709), glancing or skipping of a projectile fired from a piece of artillery (1740 in the passage translated in quot. 1740; the use of ricochet as a means of breaking enemy defences was developed by Sébastien Le Prestre, Marquis de Vauban, in the late 17th cent.) < ricochet in Middle French, French chanson du ricochet (1549), chanson de ricochet (1537) song in which the same thing is repeated endlessly, itself modelled on Old French, Middle French fable du ricochet annoying thing which is endlessly repeated, endless exchange of questions and answers, endless, repetitive argument; probably related to fable du coquet in similar use; further etymology uncertain and disputed.

Etymology: < ricochet n. Compare French ricocher to move with a series of ricochets (1807).The t is also generally silent in the inflected forms ricocheted, ricochetted, and ricocheting, ricochetting (compare crochetted, crochetting, etc.; compare also the occasional 19th-cent. spellings ricoche'd, ricoche'ing). In these forms the main stress often falls on the third syllable, as it does sometimes also in other forms.