cross

Pronunciation

• IPA: UK /krɒs/, US /krɑːs/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English cros,^[2][3] inherited from Old English cros,^[4][5] replacing earlier Old English rōd (rood),^[5][4] probably borrowed from Old Norse kross,^[2][6][4] borrowed from Old Irish cros,^[5][7] from Latin crux (“stake, cross”) (genitive crucis), originally a tall round pole on which criminals were executed.^[4][5] Barnhart relates crux to Sanskrit kruñcati “it curves” and Old English hrycg “back, ridge”, from Proto-Indo-European *krouk-.^[5] It is a doublet of crux.^[5] Middle English also had crouche, from Medieval Latin, and crois, from Old French croiz, which were common in southern England but became obsolete after 1450.^[4][5] The modern form is the one used in northern England.^[4] The adjective, from 1523, is partly from the noun and partly a shortening of across.^[5][4][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

Old English cros is recorded in 963–84,^[5][9] as the instrument of Christ's crucifixion and the symbol of Christianity,^[4] first used of a stone cross set up as a monument.^[10]

Semantic evolution

By about 1200 a cross was any likeness of the cross or the sign of the cross made with the hand,^[4] and the verb meant “to make the sign of the cross over”, in the Ancrene Riwle.^[5][4] A crucifix is from the mid-14th century,^[4] and in the late 14th century a cross was any two lines drawn crossing each other.^[4] Figuratively, from the Latin, a cross is a trial or affliction.^[4] The verb meant “to crucify” from the mid-14th century, now obsolete,^[4][9] “to go across” from about 1400,^[4][5] and “to cancel by drawing lines across” from 1443.^[5] “To thwart, oppose” is from the 1550s,^[4] and “to interbreed” from 1754.^[4] The adjective first meant “lying athwart”, 1520s;^[4] “adverse, contrary” from the 1560s (1565) led to “ill-tempered, peevish” in the 1630s (1639), probably from winds blowing against ships.^[4][5] Cross my heart is from 1898^[4] or 1908,^[9] and to cross one's mind from 1768.^[4] The crossword puzzle is from 1914.^[5]

Timeline

• 963–84 – Old English cros.^[5][9]
• c. 1200 – verb, to make the sign of the cross.^[5][4]
• mid-14th century – a crucifix; to crucify.^[4]
• c. 1400 – verb, to go across.^[4]
• 1443 – verb, to cancel with lines.^[5]
• 1523 – adjective, lying across.^[5]
• 1550s – to thwart.^[4]
• 1639 – ill-tempered.^[5]
• 1754 – to interbreed.^[4]
• 1914 – crossword puzzle.^[5]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. An upright post with a crossbar, on which people were executed in ancient times, especially the one on which Jesus was crucified.
2. The cross as the symbol of Christianity; a crucifix.
3. A mark made by two lines crossing, such as × or +.
4. A trial or burden: a cross to bear.
5. An animal or plant produced by crossbreeding; a mixture of two things.

Verb

1. To go or extend across.
2. To intersect; to place crosswise: cross one's legs.
3. To draw a line through; to delete.
4. To oppose or thwart.
5. To crossbreed.
6. To make the sign of the cross over.

Adjective

1. Annoyed; irritable.
2. Lying across; transverse.

Word family

• crosser
• crossly
• crossness
• crossable
• crossability
• crossbeam
• crosscheck
• cross-examine

Related words

• across
• crozier
• crucial
• crucifix
• crucify
• crusade
• crux
• excruciating
• cruise
• rood
• ridge

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 The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (2000), 4th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
3. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ 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 Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
6. ^ Soanes, Catherine; Stevenson, Angus, eds. (2004), Concise Oxford English Dictionary, 11th ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b c d Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
10. ^ Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press