crotal
crotal noun: a crotalum, a type of clapper used in Ancient Greece. Also the alternative form of crottle.
Noun
crotal (plural crotals)
- A crotalum, a type of clapper used in Ancient Greece.
- A small round bell or rattle; a jingle bell.
- The earliest type animal bell used was the crotal or sleigh bell. Rather than a round ball as we know it today, it was a birdcage style with pebble rolling around inside.1970, Dorothy Malone Anthony, The World of Bells, page 14
- The tumuli of most of these people have yielded bells, of both the crotal and swinging-clapper varieties.1978, Nathaniel Spear, A Treasury of Archaeological Bells, page 14
Also used as
crotal is also the alternative form of crottle.
Forms of crotal
| plural | crotals |
|---|
Origin of crotal
Either from French crotale or directly from Latin crotalum. Ultimately from Ancient Greek κρόταλον (krótalon, “clapper”). Doublet of crotalum.
From Scottish Gaelic crotal.
Questions about crotal
- What does crotal mean?
- Crotal means a crotalum, a type of clapper used in Ancient Greece.
- What part of speech is crotal?
- Crotal is a noun.
- What is the plural of crotal?
- The plural of crotal is crotals.
Words near crotal in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: crotal (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:
Cite this entry: “crotal.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/crotal. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.