cream

Pronunciation

• IPA: /kriːm/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English creyme, creem, creme,^[2][3] borrowed from Old French cresme (“chrism, holy oil”), craime, creme (modern French crème),^[3][2] a blend of Late Latin chrisma (“ointment”), from Greek khrîsma “unguent, anointing”,^[3][2][4] and Late Latin crāmum (“cream”), of uncertain origin, perhaps Gaulish.^[3][2][5] Merriam-Webster and Barnhart compare Welsh cramen “scab, crust”.^[6][2] It replaced Old English rēam “cream”.^[3][2] It is related to chrism.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The rich, fatty part of milk: creyme 1332 and creem 1378, in Piers Plowman, according to Barnhart;^[2][7] the early 14th century in Etymonline.^[3]

Semantic evolution

Medieval English cookbooks have many recipes using cream,^[8] and a dish or confection made from or resembling cream is from the early 15th century.^[3][7] The figurative “most excellent part, the best” is from the 1580s,^[3][7] by the same process as flower;^[8] French crème de la crème is not used before the mid-19th century.^[8] Any part that rises to the surface like cream is from the 1660s.^[3][7] Cream cheese is from 1583,^[2] cream-coloured from 1707,^[3] the cosmetic cold cream by 1709, translating Latin ceratum refrigerans,^[3] and cream soda by 1854.^[3] The verb, “to foam, froth”, is from 1440,^[2][3] “to remove the best part” from the 1610s,^[3] and “to beat, defeat heavily” is American slang from 1929.^[3]

Timeline

• 1332 – cream of milk.^[2][7]
• 1440 – verb, to froth.^[2]
• early 15th century – a creamy dish.^[3]
• 1580s – the best part.^[3]
• 1583 – cream cheese.^[2]
• 1709 – cold cream.^[3]
• 1929 – verb, to defeat heavily.^[3]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. The yellowish, fatty part of milk that rises to the surface.
2. A substance like or containing cream, such as a cosmetic or a sweet: face cream.
3. A pale yellowish-white colour.
4. The best part: the cream of the crop.

Verb

1. To beat into a creamy consistency: cream the butter and sugar.
2. To add cream to, or cook in a cream sauce.
3. To remove the cream or the best part from.
4. (slang) To defeat overwhelmingly.

Adjective

1. Of the colour of cream.

Word family

• creamer

Related words

• chrism
• creamy
• creamery
• cold cream
• ice cream

Usage notes

In Middle English cream, creme also meant the consecrated oil used in anointing, the chrism, from 1303, a sense now historical.^[7][9]

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (2000), 4th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
5. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ a b c d e f Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ a b c Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press