Meanings
crony1
plural cronies · alternative chrony
- informalA close friend.
Rip now resumed his old walks and habits; he soon found many of his former cronies, though all rather the worse for the wear and tear of time; and preferred making friends among the rising generation, with whom he soon grew into great favour.
1819 June 23, Geoffrey Crayon [pseudonym; Washington Irving], “Rip Van Winkle”, in The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent., number I, New York, N.Y.: […] C[ornelius] S. Van Winkle, […], →OCLC, page 91Synonyms: babber, billy, bredrin, bruv, bud, buddo, buddy, butty · Antonyms: noncrony
- informalA trusted companion or partner in a criminal organization.
crony2
Synonyms & antonyms
nounA close friend.
More synonyms by meaning
nouna close friend who accompanies their buddies in their activities
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Ancient Greekχρόνιος“perennial, long-lasting”
- Englishcrony
Coined between 1655 and 1665 from Ancient Greek χρόνιος (khrónios, “perennial, long-lasting”); see also chrono- (“time”). Initially Cambridge University slang, in sense of “chum”, as “friend of long standing”, with illegal connotation later. Early spellings included chrony, as in 1665 diary by Samuel Pepys, supporting the Greek origin.
More words from Ancient Greek
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Basque adixkide, lagun xahar
- adixkideclose friend
- lagun xaharclose friend
Bulgarian близък приятел
- близък приятел (blizăk prijatel)close friend
Chinese Mandarin 挚友, 裙带
- 挚友 (zhìyǒu)close friend
- 裙带 (qúndài)close friend
Czech kámoš, kumpán
- kámošclose friend
- kumpánclose friend
- kumpánpartner in crime
Esperanto kunulo
- kunuloclose friend
Estonian semu
- semuclose friend
Finnish kaveri
- kavericlose friend
French copain, copine
- copainclose friend
- copineclose friend
German Freund, Kumpan
- Freundclose friend
- Kumpanclose friend
Hungarian haver
- haverclose friend
Indonesian kroni, kroni
- kroniclose friend
- kronipartner in crime
Korean 옛벗
- 옛벗 (yetbeot)close friend
Malay kuncu
- kuncuclose friend
Norwegian Bokmål kompanjong, kumpan
- kompanjongclose friend
- kumpanclose friend
Portuguese parceiro
- parceiroclose friend
Romanian prieten la cataramă
- prieten la cataramăclose friend
Russian ко́реш
- ко́реш (kóreš)close friend
Spanish amigote, amigacho
- amigoteclose friend
- amigachoclose friend
- compincheclose friend
- amigotepartner in crime
- amigachopartner in crime
- compinchepartner in crime
Swedish stallbroder, kumpan
- stallbroderclose friend
- kumpanclose friend
- funtfadderclose friend
- vänclose friend
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with crony
Anagrams
Cite this entry
crony. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/crony
“crony.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/crony. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “crony,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/crony.
Source: crony on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.