crow

crow · noun, adjective, verb¹

1. Proto-Indo-European*gerh₂-der.?
2. Proto-Germanic*krēanądeverb.
3. Proto-Germanic*krēǭ
4. Proto-West Germanic*krāā
5. Old Englishcrāwe
6. Middle Englishcrowe
7. English todaycrow

From Middle English crowe, from Old English crāwe, from Proto-West Germanic *krāā, from Proto-Germanic *krēǭ (compare West Frisian krie, Dutch kraai, German Krähe), from *krēaną (“to crow”). See below. The verb is a back-formation from crowbar.

crow · verb, noun²

1. Middle English · inherited fromcrowe
2. Proto-Indo-European · derived from*gerH-“to cry hoarsely”
3. Proto-Germanic · inherited from*krēaną
4. Proto-West Germanic · inherited from*krāan
5. Old English · inherited fromcrāwan
6. Middle English · inherited fromcrowen
7. English todaycrow

The verb is from Middle English crowen, from Old English crāwan (past tense crēow, past participle crāwen), from Proto-West Germanic *krāan, from Proto-Germanic *krēaną, from imitative Proto-Indo-European *gerH- (“to cry hoarsely”). The noun is from Middle English crowe, from the verb. Compare Dutch kraaien, German krähen, Lithuanian gróti, Russian гра́ять (grájatʹ)). Related to croak.

Crow · noun, proper noun³

1. Dakota · calque ofapsáaloke“crow people”
2. French · borrowed fromgens
3. English todayCrow

From French gens de corbeaux, calque of Dakota apsáaloke (“crow people”). Compare Crow Apsáalooke.

Crow · proper noun⁴

1. Irish · calque offiach“crow, raven”
2. Middle English · inherited fromCrowe
3. English todayCrow

* From Middle English Crowe, as an Old English surname, related to crow. * As an Irish surname, from mac Conchradha. See McEnroe. * Also as an Irish surname, calque of Irish fiach (“crow, raven”) (see also Fee).

Words from the same roots