crambo

C3R1A1M3B3O1

noun

A guessing game in which players guess words that rhyme with a clue word, seeking a word that is kept secret or concealed.

OriginLatin crambe repetita →
Scrabble 12
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Meanings

nouncrambo (countable and uncountable, plural crambos or cramboes)

plural crambos · plural cramboes

  1. uncountableA guessing game in which players guess words that rhyme with a clue word, seeking a word that is kept secret or concealed.

    I saw in one corner […] a cluster of men and women, diverting themselves with a game at crambo. I heard several double rhymes […] which raised a great deal of mirth.

    1711 May 22 (Gregorian calendar), [Joseph Addison; Richard Steele et al.], “FRIDAY, May 12, 1711”, in The Spectator, number 63; republished in Alexander Chalmers, editor, The Spectator; a New Edition, […], volume I, New York, N.Y.: D[aniel] Appleton & Company, 1853, →OCLC
  2. countableA word rhyming with another word.

    His similes in order set And every crambo he could get.

    1720, Jonathan Swift, To Stella, on transcribing his Poems

Origin

  1. Latincrambe repetita“cabbage served up again”
  2. Englishcrambo

* Perhaps related to cramp (“difficult”) (adjective). * Perhaps from Latin crambe repetita (“cabbage served up again”).

More words from Latin

Full word history & related roots →

Rhymes & wordplay

Rhymes with crambo

mamboramboambogambo
All rhymes →

Anagrams

cambroCobram
Cite this entry
APA

crambo. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/crambo

MLA

“crambo.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/crambo. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “crambo,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/crambo.

Source: crambo on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.