crescere

Forms

crescere (first-person singular present crésco, first-person singular past historic crébbi, past participle cresciùto, auxiliary (intransitive) èssere or (transitive) avére)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin crēscō (“to grow, increase”).^[2][3][4][1] DÉRom reconstructs a Proto-Romance verb that was both intransitive, “to grow”, and transitive, “to make larger”, since nearly every branch has the transitive use at least in the Middle Ages.^[5] Its outcomes are found in every Romance language: French croître, Occitan creiser, Catalan créixer, Spanish crecer, Portuguese crescer, Sardinian crèschere and Romanian crește.^[3][6][5]

The Latin verb is a present in “-scō”, and DELI, Nocentini and Devoto connect it with Latin creō (“to create”).^[2][3][7] De Vaan reconstructs Proto-Italic *krē- and Proto-Indo-European *k(w)reh₁- (“to become bigger, stronger”), with a cognate in Slavic verbs meaning “to heal”; he finds a link with the PIE root for “to feed” tempting but the ablaut difficult.^[8] Wiktionary gives Proto-Indo-European *ḱreh₁-.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is the Tuscan Ritmo laurenziano, from the late 12th century, where DELI finds the sense “to improve, to thrive”.^[9][2] GRADIT and Nocentini date the first record to the first half of the 12th century.^[4][3] The sense “to grow up” appears early in the 13th century in the Ritmo su Sant'Alessio: poi lo fante foe crescutu (“then the child was grown”).^[2]

Semantic evolution

In Old Italian the verb already covered growing living things, rising waters, swelling, waxing of the moon, spreading fame and growing feelings; it could also mean “to postpone”.^[9] Transitive uses came early: “to bring up, raise” before 1250 in Giacomo da Lentini, and “to increase” before 1294 in Brunetto Latini.^[2] Old texts have past forms such as cresse and crevve for crebbe.^[10] The infinitive served as a noun, as in Metastasio's line on judgment ripening al crescer dell'etade, with age.^[11]

Its derivatives include crescente (before 1292), later also the crescent moon (1892), crescenza, a leavened flatbread before 1485 and a soft Lombard cheese, from Milanese carsenza, in 1892, crescita (1765) and the musical crescendo (1825).^[2] In knitting it means to add stitches, and in music to go sharp.^[12][13]

Timeline

• Late 12th century – The Ritmo laurenziano has the first record.^[9][2]
• Early 13th century – Crescutu “grown up” in the Ritmo su Sant'Alessio.^[2]
• Before 1250 – Giacomo da Lentini uses it for “to bring up”.^[2]
• Before 1294 – Brunetto Latini uses it for “to increase”.^[2]
• 1765 – Crescita is recorded.^[2]
• 1825 – Crescendo is recorded as a musical term.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. (intransitive) To grow: of people, animals, plants and parts of the body, to become larger by natural growth: I capelli le crescono in fretta.^[4][14][15]
2. (intransitive) To grow up, become an adult: Devi crescere un po'.^[4][14]
3. (intransitive) To be raised, spend one's childhood: È cresciuta in un paesino di montagna.^[4][14][13]
4. (intransitive, figurative) To improve, mature, progress.^[4][14]
5. (intransitive) To increase in size, number, intensity or value: I prezzi della benzina crescono ogni mese.^[4][15][12]
6. (intransitive, colloquial) To be left over, be more than needed.^[4][13]
7. (intransitive, music) To sing or play sharp.^[12]
8. (transitive) To bring up, raise: Li ha cresciuti da sola.^[12][13]
9. (transitive) To increase; in knitting, to add stitches.^[12][13]

Word family

• crescendo
• crescente
• crescenza
• crescita
• ricrescita
• accrescere
• accrescimento
• accrescitivo
• decrescere
• decrescendo
• decrescente
• decremento
• ricrescere

Related words

• crescimento
• screscere
• increscere
• rincrescere
• creare
• Latin crēscō

Usage notes

The verb is irregular: cresco, crebbi, cresciuto.^[14][15] As an intransitive it takes essere.^[14][1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
3. ^ a b c d Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b c d e f g h De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
5. ^ a b Buchi, Éva; Schweickard, Wolfgang, eds. (2008–), Dictionnaire Étymologique Roman (DÉRom), Nancy: ATILF, http://www.atilf.fr/DERom
6. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
7. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
8. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
9. ^ a b c Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
10. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
11. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
12. ^ a b c d e Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
13. ^ a b c d e Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
14. ^ a b c d e f Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
15. ^ a b c Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse