crumble

See also: Crumble

English

Alternative forms

• crimble (dialectal)

Etymology

From earlier crymble, crimble, from Middle English *crymblen, kremelen, from Old English *crymlan (“to crumble”), from *crymel (“a small crumb; crumble”), diminutive of Old English cruma (“crumb”), equivalent to crumb +‎ -le (diminutive suffix). Compare Dutch kruimelen (“to crumble”), German Low German krömmeln (“to crumble”), German Krümel, diminutive of German Krume, German krümeln, krümmeln (“to crumble”). Alteration of vowel due to analogy with crumb.

Pronunciation

• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈkɹʌmbəl/, [ˈkɹʌmbɪ̈l], [ˈkɹʌmbl̩]

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ʌmbəl
• Hyphenation: crum‧ble

Verb

crumble (third-person singular simple present crumbles, present participle crumbling, simple past and past participle crumbled)

2. (intransitive, often figurative) To fall apart; to disintegrate.

   Coordinate term: crumple

   The bread roll crumbled when I tried to slice it; it was too stale.

   The empire crumbled when the ruler's indiscretions came to light.

   • 1978, Dino Fekaris, Freddie Perren (lyrics and music), “I Will Survive”, in Love Tracks, performed by Gloria Gaynor:

     Weren't you the one who tried to hurt me with goodbye? / Did you think I'd crumble? Did you think I'd lay down and die?

   • 2012 April 4, Sam Anderson, “Just One More Game ...”, in The New York Times Magazine‎^[1]:

     In 1989, as communism was beginning to crumble across Eastern Europe, just a few months before protesters started pecking away at the Berlin Wall, the Japanese game-making giant Nintendo reached across the world to unleash upon America its own version of freedom.

4. (transitive) To break into crumbs.

   We crumbled some bread into the water.

6. (transitive) To mix (ingredients such as flour and butter) in such a way as to form crumbs.

   Coordinate term: fold

   Using your fingers, crumble the ingredients with the fingertips, lifting in an upward motion, until the mixture is sandy and resembles large breadcrumbs.

Derived terms

• crumblable
• crumblement
• crumbler
• crumblesome
• crumble up
• crumblingly
• crumblingness
• crumbling skull rule
• that's the way the cookie crumbles

 

Translations

to fall apart

• Bulgarian: разпадам се (razpadam se), раздробявам се (razdrobjavam se)
• Catalan: esmicolar-se (ca) (most common fer-se miques), desmoronar-se, derrumbar-se
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 崩溃 (zh) (bēngkuì)

• Crimean Tatar: ufatmaq
• Czech: drobit se, drolit se
• Danish: forvitre (da), smuldre, hensmuldre
• Dutch: uit elkaar vallen, verbrokkelen (nl), verkruimelen (nl)
• Esperanto: disfali, diseriĝi, kolapsi
• Finnish: murentua, murtua (fi)
• French: s’effondrer (fr)
• Galician: esfarelar (gl), esboroar (gl)
• German: bröckeln (de), zerbröckeln (de), zerkrümeln (de)
• Greek:

  Ancient: ψάω (psáō)

• Hebrew: התפרק (hitparék), התפורר (he) (hitporér)
• Hungarian: széthullik (hu), szétporlad (hu), szertefoszlik (hu), szétmállik (hu), omladozik (hu), összeomlik (hu), összedől (hu), mállik (hu), omlik (hu), hull (hu), porlad (hu), foszlik (hu)
• Italian: sgretolarsi, crollare (it), ridursi in (it) polvere (it)
• Japanese: 崩れる (ja) (kuzureru)
• Khmer: ស្រុត (km) (srot)
• Low German:

  German Low German: utenannerfallen, uteneenfallen, vuneenfallen

• Maori: ngawhere, tāorooro, ngāhorohoro
• Nepali: टुक्रिनु (ṭukrinu)
• Norwegian: falle i grus
• Polish: kruszyć (pl) impf, pokruszyć (pl) pf
• Portuguese: desmoronar (pt)
• Russian: кроши́ться (ru) (krošítʹsja), раскроши́ться (ru) pf (raskrošítʹsja), рассыпа́ться (ru) impf (rassypátʹsja), рассы́паться (ru) pf (rassýpatʹsja)
• Spanish: desmigajarse (es), desmoronarse (es), desmenuzarse (es)
• Ukrainian: розсипа́тися impf (rozsypátysja), розси́патися pf (rozsýpatysja), криши́тися impf (kryšýtysja), розкри́шуватися impf (rozkrýšuvatysja), розкриши́тися pf (rozkryšýtysja)
• Volapük: dädiledikön

to render into crumbs

• Armenian: բրդել (hy) (brdel)
• Aromanian: dinjic
• Bulgarian: роня (bg) (ronja), троша (bg) (troša)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 碎裂 (zh) (suìliè)

• Czech: drobit, drolit
• Danish: smuldre
• Dutch: verkruimelen (nl)
• Esperanto: diserigi, pulvorigi
• Finnish: murentaa, murentua, murustaa
• French: effriter (fr), émietter (fr)
• Galician: esfaragullar (gl), esfarelar (gl), esmigallar (gl), derrafar, entrillar (gl)
• German: krümeln (de), zerkrümeln (de)
• Hebrew: התפורר (he) (hitporér)
• Hungarian: morzsol (hu), szétmorzsol (hu), elmorzsol (hu)
• Italian: sbriciolare (it), sbriciolarsi (it)
• Japanese: 崩す (ja) (kuzusu)
• Latin: friō
• Norwegian: smuldre
• Portuguese: despedaçar (pt), esfarelar (pt)
• Romanian: dumica (ro)
• Russian: кроши́ть (ru) impf (krošítʹ), раскроши́ть (ru) pf (raskrošítʹ)
• Spanish: desmigajar (es), desmenuzar (es)
• Ukrainian: криши́ти impf (kryšýty), розкри́шувати impf (rozkrýšuvaty), розкриши́ти pf (rozkryšýty)
• Volapük: dädiledükön
• Zazaki: rocnayen

to mix forming crumbs

• Italian: sabbiare
• Zazaki: têvden

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

• Norman: ^{(please verify)} êmioler (Jersey)

Noun

crumble (countable and uncountable, plural crumbles)

2. A dessert of British origin containing stewed fruit topped with a crumbly mixture of fat, flour, and sugar.

   Synonyms: crisp, crunch

   blackberry and apple crumble

Derived terms

• fumble

Related terms

• crumb cake

Translations

dessert

• French: (France) crumble (fr) m, (Quebec) croustade (fr) f
• German: Crumble n
• Spanish: crumble m
• Swedish: crumble c, smulpaj c
• Zazaki: sirane

Further reading

• crumble on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• Clumber

French

Etymology

Borrowed from English crumble.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kʁœm.bœl/, /kʁœ̃bl/

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

crumble m (plural crumbles)

1. (France) crumble (dessert)

   Synonym: croustade

Spanish

Noun

crumble m (plural crumbles)

1. crumble