cranny
/ˈkɹæni/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: 2.45 in modern English
11
Scrabble Score
6
Letters
2
Syllables
5
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A member of the East Indians, or mixed-race people, from among whom English copyists were chiefly recruited.
Indian usage; Obsolete
Example Sentences
- "Down thro the Cranies of the living Walls / The Crystal Streams descend in murm'ring Falls"
- "[H]e peep'd into every Cranny; ſometimes he admir'd the Beauty of the Architecture, and the vaſt Solidity of the Maſon's VVork; at other Times he commended the Symmetry and Proportion of the Rooms."
- "What a pity they didn’t stop up the chinks and the crannies though, and thrust in a little lint here and there."
- "The ground did cranie everie where and light did pierce to hell."
- "All tenantless, save to the crannying wind."
Etymology
From Middle English crany, crani (“cranny”), apparently a diminutive of *cran (+ -y), from Old French cran, cren (“notch, fissure”), a derivative of crener (“to notch, split”), from Medieval Latin crenō (“split”, verb), from Vulgar Latin *crinō (“split, break”, verb), of obscure origin; according to Watkins, of Gaulish origin, from Proto-Celtic *krīnos (“decayed, withered”). Despite a spurious use in Pliny, connection to Latin crēna (“notch, incision”) is doubtful. Instead, probably of Germanic or Celtic origin. Compare Old High German chrinna (“notch, groove, crevice”), Alemannic German Krinne (“small crack, channel, groove”), Low German karn (“notch, groove, crevice, cranny”), Old Irish ara-chrinin (“to perish, decay”).