You can think of a quoit as one flat, weighty thing that fits in the hand: a ring or disc of stone, metal, rubber or rope, heavier than it looks, made to be swung and let go. Where that flat thing lands decides everything else. Thrown at a post, it becomes a game. Thrown for distance, it becomes a contest. Left in a field, too big to lift and resting on other stones, it becomes an ancient monument.
From the word’s history
The oldest recorded meaning is the plain one: Middle English coyte meant a flat stone. It came through Old French coite from Latin culcita, the same Latin word that gives English quilt. So the flat, weighty thing in the hand is not a metaphor here; it is where the word starts.
這個字最早記錄下來的意思，就是最樸素的那個：中古英文的 coyte，指「一塊扁平的石頭」。再往前是古法文 coite、拉丁文 culcita，而 quilt 也是從同一個拉丁字來的。所以「扁平、有分量」這個畫面不是後人想出來的比喻，它就是這個字的起點。
Wiktionary extract supplied in packet (source_ref kaikki:3f6f69a190036ae4:1313772583:6210): From Middle English coyte (flat stone), from Old French coite, from Latin culcita. Doublet of quilt.
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