Etymologically
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cross

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 15 October 2026 at 19:32. This address is a permanent link to this version.
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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

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