crumb
/kɹʌm/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: 2.97 in modern English
11
Scrabble Score
5
Letters
1
Syllables
5
Unique Chars
Meaning
Example Sentences
- "The pigeons were happily pecking at crumbs of bread on the ground."
- "desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man's table"
- "At twilight in the summer there is never anybody to fear—man, woman, or cat—in the chambers and at that hour the mice come out. They do not eat parchment or foolscap or red tape, but they eat the luncheon crumbs."
- "Then erase any pencil lines with a good, soft eraser, rubbing gently, in only one direction. A dustbrush can be useful in removing any eraser crumbs."
- "a crumb of comfort"
- "Production of rubber granules, or crumb, is well-established in this country."
Etymology
From Middle English crome, cromme, crumme, crume, from Old English cruma (“crumb, fragment”), from Proto-Germanic *krumô, *krūmô (“fragment, crumb”). The b is unetymological, as in limb, and first appeared in the mid-15th century, influenced by crumble and words such as dumb, numb, and thumb. Cognate with Dutch kruim (“crumb”), Low German Krome, Krume (“crumb”), German Krume (“crumb”), Danish krumme (“crumb”), Swedish dialectal krumma (“crumb”), Swedish in kråm (“crumbs, giblets”), Icelandic krumur (“crumb”), Latin grūmus (“a little heap”).
Origin
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /kɹʌm/
- British English: /kɹʌm/
Usage
Inflected Forms
crumbs (plural)
crimb (alternative, dialectal)
crum (alternative, obsolete)
crumbs (present, singular)
crumbing (participle, present)
crumbed (participle, past)
crumbed (past)