different between crucial vs crux

English

Etymology

1706, from French crucial, a medical term for ligaments of the knee (which cross each other), from Latin crux, crucis (“cross”) (English crux), from the Proto-Indo-European *(s)ker- (“to turn, to bend”).

The meaning “decisive, critical” is extended from a logical term, Instantias Crucis, adopted by Francis Bacon in his influential Novum Organum (1620); the notion is of cross fingerboard signposts at forking roads, thus a requirement to choose.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?k?u?.??l/
• Rhymes: -u???l

Adjective

crucial (comparative more crucial, superlative most crucial)

1. Essential or decisive for determining the outcome or future of something; extremely important; vital.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:important
2. (archaic) Cruciform or cruciate; cross-shaped.
3. (slang, especially Jamaican, Bermuda) Very good; excellent; particularly applied to reggae music.

Derived terms

• crucial experiment

Related terms

• cross
• crux

Translations

References

French

Etymology

From a root of Latin crux (“cross”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /k?y.sjal/

Adjective

crucial (feminine singular cruciale, masculine plural cruciaux, feminine plural cruciales)

1. cruciform
2. crucial, critical, vital

Further reading

• “crucial” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Portuguese

Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Pronunciation

• Hyphenation: cru?ci?al

Adjective

crucial m or f (plural cruciais, comparable)

1. crucial

Quotations

For quotations using this term, see Citations:crucial.

Romanian

Etymology

From French crucial

Adjective

crucial m or n (feminine singular crucial?, masculine plural cruciali, feminine and neuter plural cruciale)

1. pivotal

Declension

Spanish

Etymology

From English crucial.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Spain) /k?u??jal/, [k?u??jal]
• IPA^(key): (Latin America) /k?u?sjal/, [k?u?sjal]

Adjective

crucial (plural cruciales)

1. crucial

English

Etymology

From Latin crux (“cross, wooden frame for execution”), from the Proto-Indo-European *(s)ker- (“to turn, to bend”). Doublet of cross.

Pronunciation

• (UK, US) IPA^(key): /k??ks/
• Rhymes: -?ks

Noun

crux (plural cruxes or cruces)

1. The basic, central, or essential point or feature.

   Synonyms: core, gist; see also Thesaurus:gist

2. The critical or transitional moment or issue, a turning point.
   • 1993, Laurence M. Porter, "Real Dreams, Literary Dreams, and the Fantastic in Literature", pages 32-47 in Carol Schreier Rupprecht (ed.) The Dream and the Text: Essays on Literature and Language.

     The mad certitude of the ogre, Abel Tiffauges, that he stands at the crux of history and that he will be able to raise Prussia "to a higher power" (p. 180), contrasts sharply with the anxiety and doubt attendant upon most modern literary dreams.

3. A puzzle or difficulty.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Dr. Sheridan to this entry?)

   • 1860, Marian Evans (translator), The Life of Jesus, Critically Examined (originally by David Strauss)

4. (climbing) The hardest point of a climb.
   • 1907, The Alpine Journal, vol. 23. [1]

     the real crux of the climb was encountered

   • 1973, Pat Armstrong, "Klondike Fever: Seventy Years Too Late", in Backpacker, Autumn 1973, page 84:

     The final half-mile was the crux of the climb.

   • 2004, Craig Luebben, Rock Climbing: Mastering Basic Skills, The Mountaineers Books, ?ISBN, page 179:

     Most pitches have a distinct crux, or tough spot; some have multiple cruxes. […] ¶ Climb efficiently on the "cruiser" sections to stay fresh for the cruxes.

   • 2009, R. J. Secor, The High Sierra: Peaks, Passes, and Trails, Third Edition, The Mountaineers Books, ?ISBN, page 51:

     Continue climbing the groove; the crux is passing some vegetation on the second pitch.

5. (heraldry) A cross on a coat of arms.

Related terms

• cross
• crucial

Descendants

• ? French: crux

Translations

Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin crux or English crux, in the phrase crux interpretum.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kr?ks/
• Hyphenation: crux

Noun

crux f (plural cruces or cruxen)

1. crucial or otherwise serious, difficult problem

Latin

Etymology

From Proto-Indo-European *(s)ker- (“to turn, to bend”). Possible cognate with Latin circus (“circle”) and curvus (“curve”).

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /kruks/, [k??ks?]
• (Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /kruks/, [k?uks]

Noun

crux f (genitive crucis); third declension

1. wooden frame on which criminals were crucified, especially a cross
2. (derogatory) gallows bird; one who deserves to be hanged
3. (figuratively) torture; misery

Declension

Third-declension noun.

Derived terms

Related terms

Descendants

Borrowings

Unsorted borrowings

References

• crux in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• crux in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• crux in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition, 1883–1887)
• crux in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré Latin-Français, Hachette
• Carl Meissner; Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book?^[2], London: Macmillan and Co.
• crux in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898) Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
• crux in William Smith et al., editor (1890) A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, London: William Wayte. G. E. Marindin