tic-tac-toe BrE AmE , tick-tack-toe /ˌtɪk tæk ˈtəʊ $ -ˈtoʊ/ noun [uncountable] American English
[ Date: 1900-2000 ; Origin: tic-tac-toe 'game played by hitting a pencil sharply against numbered squares' (1800-1900) ; from the sound of play ]
a children’s game in which two players draw X’s or O’s in a pattern of nine squares, trying to get three in a row SYN noughts and crosses British English