English Explanatory Dictionary

crumb

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. A small piece which breaks off from baked food (such as cake, biscuit or bread).
  2. A small piece of any other solid substance.
  3. A bit, small amount.
  4. Ellipsis of crumb rubber.
  5. The soft internal portion of bread, surrounded by crust.
  6. A mixture of sugar, cocoa and milk, used to make industrial chocolate.
  7. A nobody; a worthless person.
  8. A body louse (Pediculus humanus).
verb
  1. To cover with crumbs.
  2. To break into crumbs or small pieces with the fingers; to crumble.
name
  1. A surname.

Pronunciation

/kɹʌm/ En-us-crumb.ogg

Word forms

crumb crumbs crimb crum crumbing crumbed

Etymology

From Middle English crome, cromme, crumme, crume, from Old English cruma (“crumb, fragment”), from Proto-Germanic *krumô, *krūmô (“fragment, crumb”), from Proto-Indo-European *grū-mo- (“something scraped together, lumber, junk; to claw, scratch”), from *ger- (“to turn, bend, twist, wind”). The b is unetymological, as in limb, appearing in the mid-15th century to match crumble and words like dumb, numb, thumb. Cognate with Dutch kruim (“crumb”), Low German Krome, Krume (“crumb”), German Krume (“crumb”), Danish krumme (“crumb”), Swedish dialectal krumma (“crumb”), Swedish inkråm (“crumbs, giblets”), Icelandic krumur (“crumb”), Latin grūmus (“a little heap”).

Synonyms

crumbling crumblet chip bit chunk clip crumb cutting flake fleak fragment hunk lump mammock ort piece piecemeal portion scrap scraplet slice snead snippet steck grain morsel ace atom atomy aught bissel glimpse dab damn dash diddly glint dot spatter drop dusting fleck glimmer hint flip flyspeck halfpennyworth inch iota jot lick mite modicum molecule morceau mote ooch ounce particle pennyworth

Related words

crumble crumpet crumbum crumple

Derived words

breadcrumb bread crumb by crumbs cakecrumb cake crumbs crumbable crumb cake crumbcloth crumb-cruncher crumb cruncher crumb-crusher crumb crusher crumber crumb grinder crumble crumbless crumblet crumblike crumb rubber crumb snatcher crumbum crumby crummy decrumb eat and leave no crumbs leave no crumbs pick up one's crumbs toastcrumb crumb down crumb up crumbed

Translations

Arabic: كِسْرَة Arabic: فُتَات Arabic: حتّة Arabic: فتفوتة Armenian: փշրանք Armenian: փշուր Azerbaijani: qırıntı Belarusian: кро́шка Bulgarian: троха́ Catalan: engruna Catalan: mica Chinese: зазазы Chinese: зазар Chinese Mandarin: 渣 Chinese Mandarin: 渣兒 /渣儿 Chinese Mandarin: 屑 Cornish: brewyon Cornish: brewyonen Czech: drobek Danish: krumme Dutch: kruimel Finnish: murunen French: miette Galician: migalla Galician: frangulla Georgian: ნამცეცი German: Krümel German: Brösel German: Brosame Greek: ψίχουλο Greek: τρίμμα Ancient Greek: ψιχίον Hebrew: פֵּרוּר Hungarian: morzsa Igbo: ághíríghá Indonesian: remahan Ingrian: muru Ingrian: muro Irish: grabhróg Irish: bruscar Italian: briciola Japanese: 屑 Japanese: かす Kazakh: қиқым Kazakh: қоқым Khmer: សាច់ Korean: 부스러기 Kyrgyz: күкүм Lao: ເສດ Latin: frustum Latin: mīca Lithuanian: trupinys Luxembourgish: Grimmel Macedonian: тро́шка Nanai: пурумсэ Old English: cruma Persian: خرده Plautdietsch: Kjreemel
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