Crabble
/ˈkræbəl/noun
To crawl, scramble, or move awkwardly, especially with the hands or feet.
Did you know?Crabble is a dialectal form related to “crab,” whose sideways, clawing motion likely helped shape the word’s sense of awkward movement.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Germanic / Early Germanic
Germanic
*krab-
“A reconstructed expressive root associated with clawing or crawling movements; the form is probably imitative rather than securely inherited from Proto-Indo-European.”
Middle Dutch
Middle Dutch
krabbelen
“To scratch, claw, or crawl about; a frequentative form related to krabben, “to scratch or claw.””
Middle English
English
crabben
“To crawl, climb, or move with difficulty; related to the animal-name crab and its clawing motion.”
16th–17th Century
English
crabble
“To scrape, scratch, or scramble awkwardly, including movement over a surface.”
Modern English
English
crabble
“To crawl or scramble awkwardly; the word survives mainly in dialectal and literary usage.”