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crate

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crate

  • /kɹeɪt/

Sounds like (US) krait · Rhymes with -eɪt

Where it comes from

From Dutch krat (“crate, large box, basket”), from Middle Dutch cratte (“basketware, mold”), from Old Dutch *kratta, *kratto (“basket”), from Proto-Germanic *kratjô, *krattijô (“basket”), from Proto-Indo-European *gretH- (“plaiting, wicker, basket, cradle”), from Proto-Indo-European *ger- (“to bind, twist, wind”).

Cognate with West Frisian kret (“wheelbarrow”), German Krätze (“basket”), Old English cræt, ceart (“cart, wagon, chariot”), Old Norse kartr (“wagon”), modern English cart. Wider cognates include Sanskrit ग्रन्थ (grantha, “a binding”).

Alternatively from Latin crātis (“wickerwork”), perhaps from the same PIE root.

noun crates

  1. A large open box or basket, used especially to transport fragile goods.

    Similar: packing case

  2. derogatory, mildly, slang A vehicle (car, aircraft, spacecraft, etc.) seen as unreliable. They shook the head of the unconscious pilot and when the latter opened his eyes, blinking wildly, the other members of the family lifted up the tail of the overturned crate sufficiently high enough to enable the dazed pilot, after releasing his belt, to fall out of the cockpit head first and diseng

    Similar: banger, beater, bucket of bolts, bucket of rust, clunker, crate, crock, flivver, gas guzzler, hooptie, jalopy, junker

  3. In the Rust programming language, a binary or library. And Rust never compiles modules separately, even if they're in separate files: when you build a Rust crate, you're recompiling all of its modules.

verb crates · crating · crated

  1. transitive To put into a crate. He also testified that the reason he crated the one machine and boxed the other was because one machine was stronger and the other frailer, and that made it dangerous to crate it.
  2. transitive To keep in a crate.

Thesaurus

Closest in meaning: crateful, box, package, parcel, grille, cage, doghouse, niche, bodywork, ride, car, jalopy, flivver, container, beater, kennel

Translations

Every language

noun box or basket

Españoljaulón, jaba, guacal, huacal, cajón, canil
中文條板箱 /条板箱 tiáobǎnxiāng, 板條箱 /板条箱 bǎntiáoxiāng
Kiswahilisanduku, kreti
Portuguêsengradado
Françaiscaisse, cageot
DeutschKiste, Kasten
Italianocesto
Românăladă
Русскийя́щик jáščik, клеть kletʹ, корзи́на korzína, конте́йнер kontɛ́jner
Tiếng Việtkét, thùng
العربيةفِنْطَاس finṭās
עבריתאַרְגָּז argáz

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Cite this
MLA

"crate." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/crate. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

crate. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/crate

Chicago

"crate." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/crate.

BibTeX
@misc{crate_2026,
  title = {crate},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/crate},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}