Word.ws English Dictionary

craw

/kɹɔː/

More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations

Australia/kɹoː/

craw noun: the stomach of an animal.

Noun

craw (plural craws)

  1. (archaic) The stomach of an animal.
  2. The crop of a bird.

Verb

craw (third-person singular simple present craws, present participle crawing, simple past and past participle crawed)

  1. (archaic) 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.1828, David Macbeth Moir, The Life of Mansie Wauch

Proper noun capitalized: Craw

Craw (plural Craws)

  1. A surname.

craw meaning in Tamil, Urdu and Kannada

craw in Tamil

பூச்சியினத்தின் கழுத்துப் பை, விலங்கினத்தின் இரைப்பை, விலங்கினத்தின் வயிறு

craw in Urdu

اوجھ, اوجھڑی, پوٹا

craw in Kannada

ನೆರವಿ, ಗುಂಪು, ಎರೆಚೀಲ

Synonyms of craw

Forms of craw

Noun
pluralcraws
alternative formcrag
Verb
third-person singular presentcraws
present participlecrawing
past participlecrawed
pastcrawed
Proper noun
pluralCraws

Origin of craw

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).

* As a Scottish and Irish surname, variant of Crow. * As a German surname, from a variant of Grau, Krahe, Kray.

Words formed from craw

Phrases with craw

Words that rhyme with craw

48 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about craw

What does craw mean?
Craw means the stomach of an animal.
What is craw in Tamil?
Craw in Tamil is பூச்சியினத்தின் கழுத்துப் பை, விலங்கினத்தின் இரைப்பை, விலங்கினத்தின் வயிறு. See Craw meaning in Tamil.
What part of speech is craw?
Craw can be a noun, a verb or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce craw?
Craw is pronounced /kɹɔː/ (UK).
What is the plural of craw?
The plural of craw is craws.

Words near craw in the dictionary

  1. Craveys
  2. craving
  3. cravingly
  4. cravingness
  5. cravings
  6. craw
  7. crawbeen
  8. crawbob
  9. crawbobs
  10. crawchie
  11. crawchies

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: craw (page history and authors); Craw (page history and authors); craw (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); craw (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); craw (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-craw.wav.

Cite this entry: “craw.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/craw. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.