Meanings
croup1
plural croups
- The top of the rump of a horse or other quadruped.
So light to the croup the fair lady he swung, / So light to the saddle before her he sprung.
1808 February 22, Walter Scott, “(please specify the introduction or canto number, or chapter name)”, in Marmion; a Tale of Flodden Field, Edinburgh: […] J[ames] Ballantyne and Co. for Archibald Constable and Company, […]; London: William Miller, and John Murray, →OCLC2 more examples
The guib [a kind of antelope] is of the mean dimensions, or four feet and a half in total length, and two and a half high at the shoulders, but rather higher at the croup.
1835, Charles Frederick Partington, The British cyclopædia of natural historyCurved like a stallion's croup, from dusk to dawn, / And drums upon it with his heels, whereby / Is bred the neighing thunder in the hills.
1892, Rudyard Kipling, “The Sacrifice of Er-Heb”, in Barrack-Room Ballads and Other Verses, 3rd edition, London: Methuen & Co. […], →OCLC, page 146
croup2
present singular third person croups · participle present crouping · participle past crouped · past crouped
- dialectalobsoleteTo croak, make a hoarse noise.
- uncountablemedicineAn infectious illness of the larynx, especially in young children, causing respiratory difficulty.
Yes; I've nursed five children and buried three; and the one I loved the best of all, and tended through croup, and teething, and measles, and hooping-cough, and brought up with foreign masters, regardless of expense, […].
1847 January – 1848 July, William Makepeace Thackeray, Vanity Fair […], London: Bradbury and Evans […], published 1848, →OCLC1 more example
Percy Northumberland Driscoll[…]had had children around his hearthstone; but they were attacked in detail by measles, croup and scarlet fever, and this had given the doctor a chance with his effective antediluvian methods; so the cradles were empty.
1897, Mark Twain [pseudonym; Samuel Langhorne Clemens], “[Pudd’nhead Wilson] Chapter”, in The Tragedy of Pudd’nhead Wilson: And the Comedy Those Extraordinary Twins, Hartford, Conn.: American Publishing Company, →OCLC, page 22
Synonyms & antonyms
nouna disease of infants and young children; harsh coughing and hoarseness and fever and difficult breathing
nounthe part of an animal that corresponds to the human buttocks
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
croup · noun
- Proto-Indo-European*grewb-“to curve, bend, crawl”
- Proto-Germanic*kruppaz“body, mass, heap, collection, crop”
- Old Norsekroppr“body, trunk, mass”
- Old Frenchcroupe“rump, body”
- Middle Englishcroupe
- Englishcroup
From Middle English croupe, from Old French croupe (“rump, body”), from Old Norse kroppr (“body, trunk, mass”), from Proto-Germanic *kruppaz (“body, mass, heap, collection, crop”), from Proto-Indo-European *grewb- (“to curve, bend, crawl”). More at crupper, doublet of croupe, group, and crop.
More words from Middle English, Old French, Old Norse
Full word history & related roots →croup · verb, noun
- Proto-Indo-European*ker-
- Proto-Germanic*hrōpaną“to shout”
- Old Englishhrōpan“to shout, proclaim; cry out, scream, howl”
- Middle Englishroupen
- Scotscroup
- Englishcroup
From Scots croup, croop (“the croup”), from Scots croup, crowp, croop (“to croak, speak hoarsely, murmur, complain”), from Old Scots crowp, crope, croap (“to call loudly, croak”), alteration of rowp, roup, roip, rope (“to cry, cry hoarsely, roop”), from Middle English roupen, ropen, from Old English hrōpan (“to shout, proclaim; cry out, scream, howl”), from Proto-Germanic *hrōpaną (“to shout”), from Proto-Indo-European *ker-, *kor- (“to caw, crow”). More at roop. In the medical sense introduced by Edinburgh physician Francis Home.
More words from Scots, Middle English, Old English
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Bulgarian спазматичен ларингит
- спазматичен ларингит (spazmatičen laringit)an infectious illness of the larynx
Catalan gropa, crup
- gropatop of the rump of a horse
- crupan infectious illness of the larynx
Chinese Cantonese 嘶吼症
- 嘶吼症 (si¹ haau¹ zing³)an infectious illness of the larynx
Chinese Mandarin 義膜性喉炎 /义膜性喉炎, 喉氣管支氣管炎 /喉气管支气管炎
- 義膜性喉炎 /义膜性喉炎 (yìmóxìng hóuyán)an infectious illness of the larynx
- 喉氣管支氣管炎 /喉气管支气管炎 (hóuqìguǎnzhīqìguǎnyán)an infectious illness of the larynx
- 哮吼 (xiàohǒu)an infectious illness of the larynx
- 嘶吼症 (sīhǒuzhèng)an infectious illness of the larynx
Czech zadek
- zadektop of the rump of a horse
Danish strubehoste
- strubehostean infectious illness of the larynx
Dutch kroep
- kroepan infectious illness of the larynx
Esperanto krupo
- krupoan infectious illness of the larynx
Finnish lautaset, kuristustauti
- lautasettop of the rump of a horse
- kuristustautian infectious illness of the larynx
- valekuristustautian infectious illness of the larynx
French croupe, croup
- croupetop of the rump of a horse
- croupan infectious illness of the larynx
German Kruppe, Krupp
- Kruppetop of the rump of a horse
- Kruppan infectious illness of the larynx
- Kehlkopfdiphtherie (diphtheric)an infectious illness of the larynx
- Pseudokrupp (viral)an infectious illness of the larynx
Hungarian krupp
- kruppan infectious illness of the larynx
Irish tochtán
- tochtánan infectious illness of the larynx
Italian groppa
- groppatop of the rump of a horse
Polish krup
- krupan infectious illness of the larynx
Romanian crupă
- crupătop of the rump of a horse
Russian круп, круп
- круп (krup)top of the rump of a horse
- круп (krup)an infectious illness of the larynx
Spanish grupa, crup
- grupatop of the rump of a horse
- crupan infectious illness of the larynx
- garrotilloan infectious illness of the larynx
Swedish krupp
- kruppan infectious illness of the larynx
Tamil பின்முதுகு
- பின்முதுகு (piṉmutuku)an infectious illness of the larynx
Turkish krup
- krupan infectious illness of the larynx
Welsh crŵp
- crŵpan infectious illness of the larynx
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with croup
Anagrams
Cite this entry
croup. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/croup
“croup.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/croup. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “croup,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/croup.
Source: croup on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.