Word.ws English Dictionary

croton

/ˈkɹəʊtən/US/ˈkɹoʊt(ə)n/

croton noun: any of various plants, of the genus Croton, that yield croton oil.

Noun

croton (plural crotons)

  1. Any of various plants, of the genus Croton, that yield croton oil.
  2. A tropical evergreen shrub (Codiaeum variegatum), having glossy foliage, cultivated as a houseplant.
    • The croton bushes, by day hideous things like jaundiced laurels, were changed by the moon into jagged black and white designs like fantastic wood-cuts.1934, George Orwell, chapter 15, in Burmese Days
    Synonyms:
    fire croton, garden croton, variegated croton

Proper noun (1) capitalized: Croton

Croton

  1. A river in southern New York.
  2. (abbreviation, ellipsis) Ellipsis of Croton-on-Hudson: a village in southern New York, USA, located along the Croton and Hudson rivers.
  3. (dated) The water supply of New York City.
    • The pumps now draw water from this tank, instead of from the "Croton main" as formerly.1869, “Annual report of the Department of Public Charities of the City of New York”, in (Please provide the book title or journal name), page 178
    • The water, supplied from the "Croton" main at the 68th Street side of the building, is connected by two pipes: one for direct service, and the other to supply a hot-air engine, which forces the water to the tank at the top of the house for a high or indirect service.1891, Transactions of the Royal Institute of British Architects, page 364

Proper noun (2) capitalized: Croton

Croton

  1. (classical history) Crotone

croton meaning in Indonesian and Thai

croton in Indonesian

Codiaeum variegatum
puring

croton in Thai

Codiaeum variegatum
โกสน goo-sǒn, โกรต๋น groo-dtǒn

Synonyms of croton

Forms of croton

pluralcrotons

Origin of croton

From New Latin crotōn, from Ancient Greek κροτών (krotṓn, “tick”), from the size and shape of the seed.

The river takes its name from the (Mohegan-Pequot) name of the chief of the group which lived along it. (It was formerly named after the group itself, the Kitchawan subdivision of the Mohegan.) The river feeds the Croton Reservoir in Croton-on-Hudson, which feeds the Croton Aqueduct, which supplies water to New York City, hence the metonymic sense. Early spellings of the name include Scroton.

Borrowed from Latin Crotōn. Doublet of Crotone.

Words formed from croton

Phrases with croton

Words that rhyme with croton

Questions about croton

What does croton mean?
Croton means any of various plants, of the genus Croton, that yield croton oil.
What is croton in Indonesian?
Croton in Indonesian is puring. See Croton meaning in Indonesian.
What part of speech is croton?
Croton can be a noun or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce croton?
Croton is pronounced /ˈkɹəʊtən/ (UK).
What is the plural of croton?
The plural of croton is crotons.

Words near croton in the dictionary

  1. crotchlings
  2. crotchward
  3. Croteau
  4. crotenoid
  5. crotetamide
  6. croton
  7. Croton bug
  8. Croton bugs
  9. croton oil
  10. croton oils
  11. Croton-on-Hudson

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: croton (page history and authors); Croton (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.

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

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