Crump
/krʌmp/noun
A dialect word meaning to crush, crunch, or make a heavy cracking sound.
Did you know?Crump is one of those sound-symbolic English words that likely grew from imitating a heavy crunch or crash, showing how language can begin as pure noise and become meaning.
Etymological Timeline
Old English / Early Germanic
Germanic
*krump-
“A rough, bent, or compressed shape or sound, likely imitative in origin”
Middle English
English
crumpen
“To crunch, crack, or make a breaking sound”
16th–17th Century
English
crump
“To crush, crunch, or crack with a heavy sound”
Modern English
English
crump
“Dialectal or rare use for crushing, crunching, or making a deep crackling sound”