crave

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English craven,^[2][3][4] inherited from Old English crafian (“to ask, implore, demand by right, summon”),^[5][6][7][4] from Proto-West Germanic *krafōn, from Proto-Germanic *krafjaną (“to demand”).^[1][8] Etymonline and the OED reconstruct the Germanic verb with a different stem vowel.^[5][7] Its cognates are North Germanic: Old Norse krefja (“to demand”), with the noun krafa (“a demand”), Danish kræve and Swedish kräva;^[7][4][9] the OED notes that the root is not known elsewhere in Germanic.^[7] Orel calls it of uncertain origin,^[8] and several dictionaries suggest it is related to craft, with an original sense of "power, force".^{[5][10][11][3]}

Earliest recorded meaning

To demand something with authority or as a right: in Old English, first in the laws of Cnut;^[7][6] Old English also used it for summoning a person before a court.^[7][6] Barnhart dates the Old English verb about 1000 and the Middle English craven probably before 1200, in the Ancrene Riwle.^[4]

Semantic evolution

The demanding sense died out in general English around 1325,^[7] though Scots law kept crave for asking a court for something,^[7][12] and in Scotland and northern England it meant to dun a debtor.^[7][13][14] Asking earnestly or humbly is recorded from about 1300, in Havelok,^[7] and survives in polite phrases such as crave pardon (1576).^[7][11] The sense "long for, desire eagerly" appeared at the end of the 14th century,^[7][5][4] probably through the sense of asking very earnestly;^[5][11] Chaucer used crave after about 1386.^[7] From 1576 things too could crave what they need.^[7]

Timeline

• c. 1000 – Old English crafian, to demand by right.^[4][7]
• c. 1175 – to crave to do something.^[7]
• c. 1300 – to ask earnestly, to beg for.^[7]
• c. 1386 – intransitive, to long (for, after).^[7]
• before 1400 – to long or yearn for.^[7][4]
• 1576 – crave pardon; of things, to require.^[7]
• 1707 – noun, in Scots law, a demand addressed to a court.^[7]
• 1812 – in Scotland, to dun a debtor.^[7]

Meanings

Verb

1. To desire intensely; to long for: After the long hike he craved a cold drink.^[15][14][7]
2. To need greatly or urgently.^[15][14][7]
3. To beg or ask earnestly for: I crave your indulgence.^[15][14][7]
4. (Scotland) To ask a debtor for payment; to dun.^[14][7][13]
5. (Scots law) To ask a court for something as of right.^[7][14]

Word family

• craver
• cravingly
• craving
• uncraving

Related words

• craft

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
3. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
4. ^ a b c d e f g Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
5. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b c Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 27 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill
9. ^ Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
10. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
11. ^ a b c Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
12. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
13. ^ a b Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
14. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
15. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins