craw
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craw¹
- /kɹɔː/ Northern England, UK
- /kɹoː/ Australia, British, New Zealand
- /kɾɔ/ Scotland
- /kɾɔː/ Wales
- /kɹɔ/ US
- /kɹɑ/ US, cot caught merger
Rhymes with -ɔː
Where it comes from
Late Middle English, also attested as craue, from or related to Old Norse *kravi (“neck, collar, gullet, crop of a bird”), of unclear origin (potentially cognate to crop), but historically a variation of kragi, the Norse analog of English crag. If craw and crag are cognates, then ultimately deriving from Proto-Germanic *kragô or Proto-West Germanic *kragō (“throat”), probably from Proto-Indo-European *gʷrogʰ- or *gʷrh₃-gʰ- (“throat, gullet”), whence also Proto-Celtic *brāgants (“throat, gullet”) and perhaps Ancient Greek βρόχθος (brókhthos, “throat”). The root appears to be an extension of Proto-Indo-European *gʷerh₃- (“to swallow, devour”), though the identity and meaning of the suffix is unclear. Compare Latin gurges (“gulf, bay; whirlpool, eddy”).
Other Germanic cognates include Swedish kräva (“crop of a bird”), Danish krave (“collar, crop of a bird”); Dutch kraag, Middle Dutch crāghe, Old Dutch kraga; German Kragen, Middle Low German krage, Middle High German krage, Old High German krago (“collar, neck”).
See also crag (Etymology 2).
verb craws · crawing · crawed · crag
- To caw, crow. The night was now pitmirk; the wind soughed amid the head-stones and railings of the gentry, (for we must all die,) and the black corbies in the steeple-holes cackled and crawed in a fearsome manner.
Craw²
Where it comes from
* As a Scottish and Irish surname, variant of Crow.
* As a German surname, from a variant of Grau, Krahe, Kray.
proper noun Craws
- A surname.
Thesaurus
Translations
Talk about this word "craw." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/craw. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026. craw. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/craw "craw." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/craw.Cite this
@misc{craw_2026,
title = {craw},
howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
year = {2026},
url = {https://micwyn.com/word/craw},
urldate = {2026-11-06}
}
