Etymologically
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cream

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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
  • 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