crescent

English

a crescent shape

Etymology

From Latin crēscēns, present active participle of crēscō (“arise, thrive”), from Proto-Indo-European *ker (“to grow”). See Old Armenian սերիմ (serim, “be born”) and սերեմ (serem, “bring forth”), Ancient Greek κόρη (korē, “girl”) and κούρος (kouros, “boy”), Latin creare (“produce, create, bring forth”) and Ceres (“goddess of agriculture”).

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈkɹɛs.n̩t/, /ˈkɹɛz.n̩t/, X-SAMPA: /"kr\Es.n=t/
• Rhymes: -ɛsənt

Noun

crescent (plural crescents)

1. The figure of the moon as it appears in its first or last quarter, with concave and convex edges terminating in points.
2. Something shaped like a crescent, especially:
   1. A curved pastry.
   2. A curved street, often presenting a continuous façade, as of row houses.
3. (New Zealand) A crescent spanner.

Derived terms

• crescent roll
• Fertile Crescent

Translations

figure of the moon

• Bulgarian: полумесец (bg) (polumesec) m
• Danish: halvmåne (da) c
• Dutch: maansikkel (nl)
• Finnish: sirppi (fi), kuunsirppi (fi)
• French: croissant (fr)
• German: Mondsichel (de) m
• Greek: ημισέληνος (el) (imisélinos) f, μηνίσκος (el) (minískos) m

• Hungarian: félhold (hu)
• Italian: crescente (it), falce (it) f
• Japanese: 月型 (ja) (tsukigata), 月形 (ja) (tsukigata)
• Macedonian: полумесечина (mk) (polumeséčina) f
• Navajo: dah yiitʼą́
• Norwegian: månesigd (no) m
• Russian: полумесяц (ru) (polumesjac) m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: по̏лумјесе̄ц (sh)

  Roman: pȍlumjesēc (sh)

• Swedish: halvmåne (sv) c, månskära (sv) c

curved pastry

• Danish: horn (da) n
• Dutch: croissant (nl), sikkelvormige rij huizen (nl)
• Finnish: voisarvi (fi), croissant (fi)
• French: croissant (fr)
• German: Hörnchen (de) n, Croissant (de) n, (Unterfranken, Bavaria, Austria) Kipfel (de) n, (Unterfranken, Bavaria, Austria) Kipfl (de) n

• Hungarian: kifli (hu), croissant (hu)
• Italian: cornetto (it) m
• Japanese: クロワッサン (ja) (kurowassan)
• Macedonian: кифла (mk) (kífla) f
• Serbo-Croatian:

• Cyrillic:
• Roman: ròščić (sh) m, kíflica (sh) f

Adjective

crescent (not comparable)

1. (dated, rare) marked by an increase; waxing, like the Moon.
   • Tennyson

     O, I see the crescent promise of my spirit hath not set.

2. Shaped like a crescent.
   • Milton

     Astarte, queen of heaven, with crescent horns.

Translations

marked by an increase

• Bulgarian: нарастващ (bg) (narastvašt)
• Finnish: kasvava (fi)

• Greek: δρεπανοειδής (el) (drepanoeidís) m, μηνοειδής (el) (minoeidís) m
• Russian: растущий (ru) (rastuščij)

Verb

crescent (third-person singular simple present crescents, present participle crescenting, simple past and past participle crescented)

1. (transitive) To form into a crescent, or something resembling a crescent.
   • 1809, Anna Seward, “Letter VI. 195”:

     A dark wood crescents more than half the lawn

2. (transitive) To adorn with crescents.

Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.

---

Latin

Verb

crēscent

1. third-person plural future active indicative of crēscō
   1. "they will come to be"
   2. "they will become visible, they will spring from, they will arise, they will come forth"
   3. "they will increase, they will rise, they will grow, they will thrive; they will multiply, they will augment"