different between crumb vs crump

English

Alternative forms

• crimb (dialectal)

Etymology

From Middle English crome, cromme, crumme, crume, from Old English cruma (“crumb, fragment”), from Proto-Germanic *krumô, *kr?mô (“fragment, crumb”), from Proto-Indo-European *gr?-mo- (“something scraped together, lumber, junk; to claw, scratch”), from *ger- (“to turn, bend, twist, wind”). The b is excrescent, as in limb and climb, appearing in the mid 15th century to match crumble and words like dumb, numb, thumb. Cognate with Dutch kruim (“crumb”), Low German Krome, Krume (“crumb”), German Krume (“crumb”), Danish krumme (“crumb”), Swedish dialectal krumma (“crumb”), Swedish inkråm (“crumbs, giblets”), Icelandic krumur (“crumb”), Latin gr?mus (“a little heap”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /k??m/
• Rhymes: -?m

Noun

crumb (countable and uncountable, plural crumbs)

1. A small piece which breaks off from baked food (such as cake, biscuit or bread).

   • desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man's table

   • At twilight in the summer there is never anybody to fear—man, woman, or cat—in the chambers and at that hour the mice come out. They do not eat parchment or foolscap or red tape, but they eat the luncheon crumbs.

2. A small piece of other material, such as rubber.
   • 2012, Caroline Joy Adams, An Italic Calligraphy Handbook (page 79)

     Then erase any pencil lines with a good, soft eraser, rubbing gently, in only one direction. A dustbrush can be useful in removing any eraser crumbs.

3. (figuratively) A bit, small amount.

4. The soft internal portion of bread, surrounded by crust.
   • 1861, Thomas Hughes, Tom Brown at Oxford

     Dust unto dust, what must be, must; / If you can't get crumb, you'd best eat crust.

5. A mixture of sugar, cocoa and milk, used to make industrial chocolate.
6. (slang) A nobody; a worthless person.
   • 1999, Phyllis Reynolds Naylor, Alice on the Outside (page 146)

     All Dad can think of is a gift certificate from the Melody Inn? And my crumb of a boyfriend doesn't even show up? This is a birthday?

7. (slang) A body louse (Pediculus humanus).

Synonyms

• (crumbled food): crumbling
• (small amount): see also Thesaurus:modicum.

Derived terms

Related terms

• crumble
• crumpet
• crumbum

Translations

Verb

crumb (third-person singular simple present crumbs, present participle crumbing, simple past and past participle crumbed)

1. (transitive) To cover with crumbs.
2. (transitive) To break into crumbs or small pieces with the fingers; to crumble.

   to crumb bread

Derived terms

• crumbed

Related terms

• crumple

Translations

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /k??mp/
• Homophones: Crump, krump
• Rhymes: -?mp

Etymology 1

Onomatopoeic.

Noun

crump (plural crumps)

1. The sound of a muffled explosion.
   • 2008, Paul Wood, BBC News. Taking cover on Sderot front line

     "Now you can see what life is like for us here," said Yakov Shoshani, raising his voice to make himself heard over the sound of a loud crump.

Verb

crump (third-person singular simple present crumps, present participle crumping, simple past and past participle crumped)

1. (intransitive) To produce such a sound.

Etymology 2

This etymology is incomplete. You can help Wiktionary by elaborating on the origins of this term.

Verb

crump (third-person singular simple present crumps, present participle crumping, simple past and past participle crumped)

1. (intransitive, US, medical slang) For one's health to decline rapidly (but not as rapidly as crash).

Synonyms

• circle the drain

Etymology 3

See crumb.

Adjective

crump (comparative more crump, superlative most crump)

1. (Britain, Scotland, dialect) Hard or crusty; dry baked

   a crump loaf

Etymology 4

From Middle English crump, cromp, croume, from Old English crump, crumb (“stooping, bent, crooked”), from Proto-Germanic *krumpaz, *krumbaz (“bent”). Compare Dutch krom (“bent”), German krumm (“crooked”), Danish krum. Related to cramp.

Adjective

crump (comparative more crump, superlative most crump)

1. (obsolete) Crooked; bent.