Etymologically
Log in

crow

History Permalink

Etymology and origin of the English word crow

Pronunciation

crow1 bird

Confidence
Established
Formation
Inherited
First attested
Old English, Epinal Glossary
Inherited from
Old English crāwe via Middle English
Ultimate origin
Proto-Germanic *krēǭ

Etymology

The bird's name is inherited from Middle English crowe, inherited from Old English crāwe,[2][3][4] recorded before 700.[2] It matches Old Saxon krāia, Middle Dutch crāie, Old High German krāwa (modern German Krähe) and Dutch kraai,[4][5][6] and, further off, Old Norse kráka (“crow”) and krákr (“raven”).[2] The OED, Hoad and the Oxford Dictionary of English describe it as a West Germanic noun formed from the verb that became crow (“to cry like a cock”),[4][7][8] so that, as Klein puts it, it meant "the crowing bird".[5] Etymonline holds that the word imitates the bird's harsh cry,[9] and Weekley compares Latin cornīx and corvus, which he also takes to be imitative.[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

A large black bird of the genus Corvus: the word glosses Latin in the Old English Epinal Glossary.[4] Barnhart finds the Middle English form crowe about 1250, in The Owl and the Nightingale, and as a surname in 1188.[2]

Semantic evolution

In England the name was used especially of the carrion crow; from 1611 it was also used, with a qualifier, of related birds such as the hooded crow.[4] The bird soon gathered proverbs: as black as a crow and a white crow, a rarity, are found from 1297, and to have a crow to pluck with someone, a quarrel to settle, from the 15th century.[4] Johnson (1755) explained the last as "to be industrious or contentious about a trifle".[11] Weekley thought it suggests animals fighting over their prey.[10] As the crow flies, in a straight line, dates from 1803 in the OED and 1810 in Etymonline,[4][9] and the American eat crow, to accept a humiliation, from about 1870, often as eat boiled crow.[9] The name also passed to an iron bar with a beak-like end, the crowbar (before 1400),[4][7] and in thieves' slang to a lookout (1862).[4][12] Weekley instead traced the tool's name to Old French cros de fer (“iron hooks”), since the oldest examples speak of crows of iron.[10]

Timeline

  • Old English – the bird, in the Epinal Glossary.[4]
  • 1297 – proverbial phrases, among them as black as a crow.[4]
  • before 1400 – an iron bar used as a lever, a crowbar.[4]
  • before 1500 – to have a crow to pluck with someone.[4]
  • 1553–1870 – a grappling hook.[4]
  • 1611 – with a qualifier, related birds such as the hooded crow.[4]
  • 1658 – the southern constellation Corvus.[4]
  • 1803 – as the crow flies;[4] 1810 in Etymonline.[9]
  • 1862 – (thieves' slang) a lookout.[4][12]
  • by 1870 – (US) eat crow.[9]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. A large, mostly glossy black bird of the genus Corvus, with a strong beak and a harsh call; in Britain especially the carrion crow.
  2. Any of various related birds, such as the rook or the jackdaw.
  3. A crowbar.
  4. (slang) A person who keeps watch while another commits a crime.
  5. In the phrases as the crow flies (in a straight line) and eat crow (to admit a mistake humbly).

Word family

  • crowbar
  • scarecrow
  • crowberry
  • crowfoot
  • crow's-foot
  • crow's nest

crow2 to cry like a cock

Confidence
Established
Formation
Inherited
First attested
Old English, West Saxon Gospels
Inherited from
Old English crāwan via Middle English
Ultimate origin
Proto-Germanic *krēaną

Etymology

The verb is inherited from Middle English crowen, inherited from Old English crāwan,[2][3][4] a strong verb in Old English (past tense crēow) though weak in the related languages:[4] Old High German krāen (modern German krähen), Middle Low German krēien and Dutch kraaien.[4][5][7] Hoad and the Oxford Dictionary of English call it a West Germanic word imitating the sound,[7][8] and Ayto says it began as an imitation of the cockerel's harsh call.[13] Barnhart traces it to an imitative Indo-European base, and the AHD to the root Proto-Indo-European *gerh₂-, also the source of crane.[2][14][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

To utter the loud cry of a cock: Old English, in the West Saxon Gospels (Matthew 26:75).[4] Barnhart finds the Middle English form crowen about 1250.[2]

Semantic evolution

Etymonline thinks the verb first described the noise of crows, and finds it odd that the cock's cry became its main sense.[9] Before 1250, in The Owl and the Nightingale, it could still be used of other birds such as the raven, a use that died out after 1483.[4] Of people, it meant to give a loud cry of joy, especially the gleeful cry of a baby (Spenser, 1579),[4] and figuratively to boast or exult, crow over someone, from before 1529 in Skelton,[4] or 1522 according to Barnhart.[2] The old strong past crew survives in the proper sense, especially in British English and in the Bible ("the cock crew"), while crowed is used for boasting.[7][6][3] The noun, the crowing of a cock, was formed from the verb about 1290,[4][2] and its use for an exultant cry dates from 1859.[4]

Timeline

  • Old English – to utter the cry of a cock.[4]
  • before 1250–1483 – of other birds, such as the raven.[4]
  • c. 1290 – the noun, a cock's crowing.[4]
  • 1522 – to show one's pride and happiness, according to Barnhart;[2] before 1529 in the OED, in Skelton.[4]
  • 1579 – of people, to give a loud cry of joy.[4]
  • 1859 – the noun, of a person's exultant cry.[4]

Modern meaning

Verb

  1. (of a cock) To make its loud, shrill call.
  2. To boast or gloat about something, often with over or about: She has been crowing about her promotion all week.
  3. (of a baby) To make happy sounds.

Noun

  1. The cry of a cock.
  2. A triumphant or happy cry.

Word family

  • cockcrow
  • crower
  • overcrow

References

  1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  3. ^ a b c d 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 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  5. ^ a b c Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  6. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  7. ^ a b c d e Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  8. ^ a b Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  9. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  10. ^ a b c Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
  11. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
  12. ^ a b Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
  13. ^ Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
  14. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Related etymologies

  • goose · also from Old English
  • doe · also from Old English
  • swan · also from Old English
  • ivy · also from Old English
  • borough · also from Old English
  • merry · also from Old English
  • boil · also from Old English
  • archbishop · also from Old English
Cite this entry

“Crow.” Etymologically, 22 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/en/crow. Accessed 23 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·