crone

See also: Crone

English

Etymology

From Middle English crone, from Anglo-Norman carogne (compare central Old French charogne (a term of abuse, literally “carrion, carcass, old sheep, hag”), whence modern French charogne). Doublet of carrion.

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /kɹoʊn/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /kɹəʊn/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• Rhymes: -əʊn
• Homophone: crosne

Noun

crone (plural crones)

1. (archaic) An old woman.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:old woman

   • 1700, [John] Dryden, “The Wife of Bathe’s Tale. As it was Written by Geffrey Chaucer”, in Fables Ancient and Modern; […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC:

     But still the crone was constant to her note.

2. An archetypal figure, a wise woman.
   • 2023 August 17, Jeremy Levick & Rajat Suresh, “Hybrid Creatures” (7:01 from the start), in What We Do in the Shadows‎^[1], season 5, episode 7, spoken by Nadja of Antipaxos (Natasia Demetriou):

     “And what is your name, crispy, old, wizened crone?” “Oh, my name's Helen.” “Hel-- Oh, just Helen. That's it. Just Helen?” “Helen the Magic Woman.” “And you can help me rid myself of this disgusting hex?” “Yes.”

3. An ugly, evil-looking, or frightening old woman; a hag.
   • 2005, J. M. Coetzee, “Six”, in Slow Man, New York: Viking, →ISBN, page 36:

     With black unseeing eyes the old woman, the crone, stares at him and through him. Over and over she mutters a word that he cannot quite catch, something like Toomderoom.

   • 2023 July 20, Jake Bender & Zach Dunn, “Pride Parade” (22:07 from the start), in What We Do in the Shadows‎^[2], season 5, episode 3, spoken by Nadja of Antipaxos (Natasia Demetriou):

     “Let's welcome the most beautiful girl I know and I've ever met. My good lady wife Nadja. Come on.” “Oh, she's right here. I've got her.” “I'm here.” “Quiet, crone! Hello, everyone. Thank you all so much for coming.”

4. (obsolete) An old ewe.
   • 1557 February 13 (Gregorian calendar), Thomas Tusser, A Hundreth Good Pointes of Husbandrie, London: […] Richard Tottel, →OCLC; republished London: […] Robert Triphook, […], and William Sancho, […], 1810, →OCLC:

     In traveling homeward, buy forty good crones, and fat up the bodies of those seely bones

5. (obsolete) An old man, especially one who talks and acts like an old woman.
   • 1822 May 21, Geoffrey Crayon [pseudonym; Washington Irving], “The Haunted House”, in Bracebridge Hall, or The Humourists. A Medley. […], volume II, New York, N.Y.: […] C. S. Van Winkle, […], →OCLC, page 210:

     The old crone [a negro man] lived in a hovel, in the midst of a small patch of potatoes and Indian corn, which his master had given him on setting him free.

   • 1844, Benjamin Disraeli, Coningsby:

     A few old battered crones of office.

Derived terms

• cronehood
• cronelike
• croning

Translations

old woman

• Bulgarian: старица (bg) f (starica)
• Catalan: vella (ca) f, àvia (ca) f, iaia (ca) f
• Czech: bába (cs) f
• Dutch: besje (nl) f
• Finnish: kääkkä (fi), muori (fi), eukko (fi), akka (fi)
• French: vieille (fr) f
• Irish: seanchailleach f, ruacán caillí m
• Japanese: クローネ (ja), お婆さん (ja) (obāsan), 祖母 (ja) (sobo), 外祖母 (ja) (gaisobo)
• Latin: anus (la) f
• Macedonian: ста́рица f (stárica)
• Polish: baba (pl) f
• Portuguese: coroa (pt) f
• Romanian: babă (ro) f
• Russian: стару́ха (ru) f (starúxa)
• Scottish Gaelic: cailleach f
• Swedish: gumma (sv) c

archetypal figure

ugly evil-looking or frightening old woman; a hag

• Bulgarian: вещица (bg) f (veštica)
• Czech: babizna f, baba (cs) f, babice f
• Dutch: heks (nl) f
• Finnish: noita (fi)
• French: sorcière (fr) f, mégère (fr) f
• Galician: coirón m, bruxa (gl) f
• Hungarian: banya (hu), szipirtyó (hu)
• Irish: seanchailleach f
• Italian: strega (it) f
• Japanese: 鬼女 (ja) (kijo)
• Latin: anus (la) f
• Macedonian: ве́штерка f (véšterka)
• Plautdietsch: Hakjs f
• Polish: baba (pl) f
• Portuguese: bruxa (pt) f
• Romanian: cotoroanță (ro) f, baborniță (ro) f, hoașcă (ro) f
• Russian: карга́ (ru) f (kargá)
• Scottish Gaelic: cailleach f
• Spanish: bruja (es) f
• Swedish: hagga (sv) c

old ewe

old man, especially one who talks and acts like an old woman

• Finnish: kääkkä (fi), äijänkäppänä (fi), äijänkäppyrä (fi)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Italian: ^{(please verify)} befana (it) m

Further reading

• Douglas Harper (2001–2025) “crone”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.

Anagrams

• oncer, Oncer, Coren, coner, necro-, Creon, necro, Ceron, recon

Middle Dutch

Etymology

From Old Dutch corōna, from Latin corōna. Doublet of crune.

Noun

crône f

1. crown, wreath

Inflection

This noun needs an inflection-table template.

Derived terms

• crônen

Descendants

• Dutch: kroon
  • Afrikaans: kroon
  • → Indonesian: kerun
  • Negerhollands: kroon
• Limburgish: kroean

Further reading

• “crone”, in Vroegmiddelnederlands Woordenboek, 2000
• Verwijs, E., Verdam, J. (1885–1929) “crone (I)”, in Middelnederlandsch Woordenboek, The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, →ISBN, page I

Middle English

Noun

crone

1. Alternative form of crane (“crane”)