crème

See also: creme, Creme, crémé, cremé, and Crème

English

Alternative forms

• creme

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from French crème. Doublet of cream and crema.

Adjective

crème (comparative more crème, superlative most crème)

1. Synonym of cream
   • 1989, Benjamin Evans Dean, A Virginian in Yankeeland: Volume Four: Some Stars and Stripes Voyages, →ISBN, page 10:

     I was still wearing Florsheim cordovan wingtip shoes, medium gray flannel slacks, with a broadcoth crème shirt that displayed pale green stripes setting off my dark green silk tie imprinted with light brown heads of horses.

   • 1999, Margaret Allison (pseudonym; Cheryl Klam), The Last Curve, Pocket Books, →ISBN, page 15:

     He went through periods where he wore monochromatic outfits, and though he had begun to experiment with new combinations, he still liked to return to the blue suit with the blue shirt and the blue tie, or the creme colored suit with the creme shirt and the creme tie.

   • 2005, Cincinnati Wedding, pages 48 (picture perfect) and 51 (master class):

     (this page) Crème sequin dress by St. Patrick, $1,000, at Bridal Designs, Dragonfly earrings, $12,000, cultured pearl necklace worn as bracelet, $14,000, Lucida® solitaire diamond ring, $22,800, channel set diamond band, $2,075, at Tiffany & Co. Shoes by Stuart Weitzman, $285. […] (left) Crème dress with white lace overlay and pink sash by Monique Lhuillier, $2,910, at Bridal & Formal.

Noun

crème (countable and uncountable, plural crèmes)

1. (cooking) A very sugary, fluffy white cream derivative.
2. (cosmetics) Cream.

Derived terms

• crème caramel
• crème Chantilly
• crème de cacao
• crème de menthe
• cremey
• marshmallow creme

 

Verb

crème (third-person singular simple present crèmes, present participle crèming, simple past and past participle crèmed)

1. To whip into a thick creamy texture.
   • 1929 July 11, “Look Lovely Tonight: New Skin Beauty in Five Minutes—It’s as Simple as Washing Your Face”, in Daily News, volume 11, number 13, New York, N.Y., page 33, column 2:

     Cremed magnesia beautifies the skin in the same easy way that milk of magnesia purifies the stomach […] Thousands of doctors now insist that their wives, patients and nurses use nothing but cremed magnesia on their faces.

   • 1966, Mademoiselle: The Magazine for the Smart Young Woman, volume 64:

     Raspberries, usually souffléed or crèmed […]

   • 1976 April 7, Battle Creek Enquirer and News, volume 76, number 260, Battle Creek, Mich., page A-8:

     CREMING BLEACH 1.5 oz. net wt. / & CREME ACTIVATOR 1 oz. wt.

   • 1989, Honey Hotline:

     Cremed Honey Spreads Combine the Goodness of Nature […] David Yurgelum of Gourmet Products (Watertown, Conn.) is a connoisseur when it comes to cremed honey spreads.

   • 2001, Paula Begoun, Don’t Go to the Cosmetics Counter Without Me: A Unique Guide to Over 30,000 Products, Plus the Latest Skin-Care Research, 5th edition, →ISBN, page 929:

     Cremed Powder Eyeshadow ($16) has a slightly heavy texture that is more powdery than creamy.

   • 2012, Kirstin Jackson, “Délice de la Vallée Fromage Blanc, California”, in It’s Not You, It’s Brie: Unwrapping America’s Unique Culture of Cheese, Perigee Books, →ISBN:

     Translating to “delight of the valley,” Délice is an uber-crèmed fromage blanc, or as Davis likes to call it, a “crème de fromage.” It’s a triple crème, fresh, soft cheese made with whole cow’s milk and cream, with fresh Sonoma chèvre mixed in.

   • 2015, Erin Barrett, Jack Mingo, editors, W. C. Privy’s Original Bathroom Companion, number 2, St. Martin’s Press, →ISBN:

     Sweet! / How Twinkies Got Crèmed / They’re golden brown, irresistibly spongy, and filled with “crème” (you don’t think there’s actually cream in there, do you?).

Further reading

• United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit (2019 August 8) No. 18–2055‎^[1], concerning whether the term “hazelnut crème” is misleading if there is no hazelnut, as opposed to the term “cream” being employed.

Anagrams

• McRee, c'mere, merce

Dutch

Alternative forms

• kreem (Belgium, colloquial)

Etymology

Borrowed from French crème.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /krɛm/, /krɛːm/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: crè‧me

Noun

crème f (plural crèmes, diminutive crèmepje n or crèmeke n)

1. cream (color/colour)
2. (Belgium, colloquial) ice cream
   • 1962, Hugo Claus, De verwondering:

     ‘Een crèmeke, alstublief, m'dam.’

     An ice cream, please, ma'am.

   • 2011, Guido van Heulendonk, Terug naar Killary Harbour:

     HIER CRÈME MET ÉCHTE FRAISEN!

     Here ice cream with real cherries!

   • 2017 October 15, 'Goesting' (pseud.), "Crème de la crème: hier lik je de lekkerste ijsjes van het land", Het Laatste Nieuws.

     Goesting ging testen en serveert de crème de la crème onder de crème, al zeggen we er meteen bij dat deze lijst uiteraard niet volledig is.

     Goesting went to test and serves the crème de la crème of ice cream, although we say right away that this list is obviously not exhaustive.

3. cream (ointment)

Derived terms

• crèmekleurig
• crèmewit
• gezichtscrème
• handcrème
• ijscrème

Descendants

• → Indonesian: krèm
• → Papiamentu: krèm

French

Etymology

Inherited from Middle French chresme, from Old French cresme, from Late Latin crama, a Transalpine Gaulish word influenced by Latin chrisma (modern French chrême), from Ancient Greek χρῖσμα (khrîsma).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kʁɛm/

• Audio (Paris):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛm
• Homophones: chrême, chrêmes, crèment, crèmes
• Hyphenation: crème

Adjective

crème (invariable)

1. cream (color/colour)
2. (colloquial) cool

   Synonyms: cool, bien, classe

Descendants

• → Dutch: crème, kreem (Belgium, colloquial)
  • → Indonesian: krèm
  • → Papiamentu: krèm
• → English: crème, creme
• → German: creme
• → Romanian: crem
• → Turkish: krem

Noun

crème f (plural crèmes)

1. cream
2. (France, colloquial) café crème
3. (Louisiana) ice cream

Synonyms

• (ice cream): crème glacée f; (Quebec, colloquial) crème à glace, crème en glace; (France, colloquial) glace

Hypernyms

• laitage

Hyponyms

• chantilly

Derived terms

• café crème
• chou à la crème
• crème à glace
• crème anglaise
• crème brûlée
• crème chantilly
• crème de cassis
• crème de chaux
• crème de la crème
• crème de riz
• crème de tartre
• crème de violette
• crème fleurette
• crème fouettée
• crème fraîche
• crème glacée
• crème hydratante
• crème pâtissière
• crémer
• crémerie
• crémeux
• crémier
• crémière
• demi-écrémé
• double-crème
• écrémé
• écrémer
• écrémeuse
• écrémoir
• passer crème
• tarte à la crème

 

Descendants

• → Arabic: كريم (k(e)rēm)
• → Bulgarian: крем (krem)
• → Catalan: crema
• → Danish: creme
  • → Faroese: krem
• → Dutch: crème, kreem (Belgium, colloquial)
  • → Indonesian: krèm
  • → Papiamentu: krèm
• → English: crème, creme
• → Esperanto: kremo
  • → Ido: kremo
• → German: Creme, Crème, Krem, Kreme
• → Hungarian: krém (also via German)
• → Italian: crema
  • → English: crema
  • → Greek: κρέμα (kréma)
  • → Turkish: krema
• → Japanese: クレーム (kurēmu)
• → Khmer: ក្រេម (kreem), ក្រែម (kraem); ការ៉េម (kaareem)
• → Lao: ກະແລັມ (ka læm), ກະແລມ (ka lǣm, “ice cream”)
• → Norwegian Bokmål: krem
• → Norwegian Nynorsk: krem
• → Persian: کرم (kerem, krem)
• → Polish: krem
• → Portuguese: creme
• → Romanian: cremă
• → Russian: крем (krem)
  • → Armenian: կրեմ (krem)
  • → Azerbaijani: krem
  • → Georgian: კრემი (ḳremi)
  • → Yakut: крем (krem)
• → Spanish: crema
  • → English: crema
  • → Tagalog: krema
  • → Turkish: krema
• → Swedish: kräm
• → Turkish: krem
• → Vietnamese: cà lem, cà rem, kem
• → Yiddish: קרעם (krem) (possibly via German)

Verb

crème

1. inflection of crémer:
   1. first/third-person singular present indicative
   2. first-person singular present subjunctive
   3. second-person singular imperative

See also

Colors in French · couleurs (layout · text)

blanc	gris	noir
rouge; cramoisi, carmin	orange; brun, marron	jaune; crème
lime	vert	menthe
cyan, turquoise; bleu canard	azur, bleu ciel	bleu
violet, lilas; indigo	magenta; pourpre	rose

Further reading

• “crème”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

German

Verb

crème

1. inflection of crèmen:
   1. first-person singular present
   2. first/third-person singular subjunctive I
   3. singular imperative

Norman

Etymology

From Old French cresme, from Late Latin crāmum, a blend of Gaulish *crama and Late Latin chrisma (“ointment”).

Noun

crème f (plural crèmes)

1. (Jersey) cream

Related terms

• êcrémer (“to skim”)