"C" Word Origins

crucifixional

Origin

From crucifixion + -al.

crucify

Latin

From Old French crucefier, from Latin crucifigo, "to fix to a cross."

crud

Origin

A variant of "curd," originally meaning a coagulated or thickened substance.

cruddy

Origin

From Middle English cruddi, equivalent to crud + -y.

crude

Latin

From Latin crūdus ("raw, uncooked"), the same root as "raw" itself.

crudity

Origin

Borrowed from Middle French crudité, from Latin crūditās. By surface analysis, crude + -ity. Doublet of crudité.

cruel

Latin

From Old French cruel, from Latin crūdēlis ("harsh, severe"), related to crūdus ("raw"), the same root as "crude."

Cruella

Origin · 101

From Cruella de Vil, the villain of 101 Dalmatians — her name is a pun combining "cruel" and "devil."

cruelly

Middle English

From Middle English cruelly; equivalent to cruel + -ly.

cruelness

Origin

From Middle English cruelnesse; equivalent to cruel + -ness.

cruelty

Latin

From Old French crualté, from Latin crudelitas, related to "cruel."

crufty

Origin

From cruft + -y. Arose after 1959, presumably mid-1960s. Perhaps influenced by cruddy, crusty.

Cruickshank

Origin

From Scots cruick ("bent; lame") plus shank ("leg").

cruise

Latin

From Dutch kruisen ("to cross, sail around"), from kruis ("cross"), ultimately from Latin crux.

cruiser

Origin

From "cruise" plus "-er."

cruising

Origin

By surface analysis, cruise + -ing.

cruller

Origin

Borrowed from Dutch kruller (“curler”), from krullen + -er.

crumb

Old English

From Old English cruma ("fragment, crumb"); the silent "b" was added later by analogy with words like "thumb" and "numb."

crumble

Origin

From an older form crymble, related to "crumb" with a diminutive ending.

crummy

Origin

Variant of crumby, mid 19th c.

crump

Origin

Believed to imitate the sound itself — the word was coined to echo the dull thud of an explosion.

crumpet

Welsh · 1930

The cake sense goes back centuries, possibly from a Welsh or Breton word for a folded pancake. The slang sense for an attractive person appeared in the 1930s, possibly linked to rhyming slang for "strumpet".

crumple

Old English

From Middle English crumplen, related to Old English crump ("bent, crooked") — the same root behind "crumpled" and "crumb".

crunch

Origin

From earlier forms like "craunch" and "cranch", words invented to imitate the sound itself.

crunchie

Origin

From crunchy. Use to refer to infantrymen in Vietnam is from their "crunching" through the jungle brush. Use to refer to white Afrikaners is perhaps from their supposed tendency to eat crunchy food.

crupper

Origin

From Middle English croper, crouper, from Anglo-Norman cruper, cropere, from Old French cropiere, crupiere, from the same Germanic root as croup. Doublet of croupiere.

crus

Origin

Borrowed from Latin crūs.

crusade

Latin

From French croisade, ultimately from Latin cruciata ("marked with a cross"), tied to the crusaders' practice of wearing a cross as a symbol of their cause.

crusader

Origin

Formed from crusade plus the agent suffix -er, meaning "one who takes part in a crusade".

crush

Latin

From Old French croissir ("to crush, smash"), tracing back through Latin and Germanic roots meaning to grind or strike violently.

crusher

Origin

Formed from crush plus the agent suffix -er, meaning "a thing that crushes".

crushing

Origin

By surface analysis, crush + -ing.

Crusoe

French

Perhaps from French Crusiaux, a topographic surname from a diminutive of creux ("hollow").

crust

Latin

From Latin crusta ("hard outer covering"), the same root that gives us "crustacean" and "custard".

crustacean

Latin

From the scientific name Crustacea, based on Latin crusta ("shell" or "crust") — named for their hard outer shell.

crusty

Middle English

From Middle English, equivalent to crust + -y.

crutch

Old English

From Old English crycc ("staff, crutch"), related to words in other Germanic languages for a bent support.

crux

Latin

From Latin crux, meaning "cross" — the sense shifted from a literal cross to a central, decisive point.

Cruz

Origin

From Romance cruz ("cross").

cry

Latin · 1200

From Old French crier, tracing back to Latin quiritare ("to shout"). The sense of shedding tears developed in English from the 13th century onward, gradually replacing the older word "weep".

cryey

Origin

From cry + -ey.

crying

Origin

From cry + -ing.

cryogenic

Greek

From cryo- (Greek for "cold" or "frost") plus -genic ("producing").

cryopathy

Origin

From cryo- + -pathy.

crypt

Latin

From Latin crypta ("vault"), ultimately from Greek kryptos ("hidden") — the same root as "cryptic".

cryptic

Greek

From Greek kryptikos, related to kryptos ("hidden") — the same root as "crypt".

crypto

English

A shortening of cryptocurrency, itself from crypto- (from Greek kruptos, hidden) plus currency, so named because the system relies on cryptography.

cryptography

Origin

From crypto- + -graphy.