crescent

English

a crescent shape

Etymology

From Anglo-Norman cressaunt, from Old French creissant (“crescent of the moon”) (French croissant), 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^(key): /ˈkɹɛs.n̩t/, /ˈkɹɛz.n̩t/
• Rhymes: -ɛsənt, -ɛzənt

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. (Islam) A representation of the symbol used by Islamic caliphates
4. (New Zealand) A crescent spanner.
5. (historical) Any of three orders of knighthood conferred upon foreigners to whom Turkey might be indebted for valuable services.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Brande & C to this entry?)

6. (heraldry) The emblem of the waxing Moon with horns directed upward, when used in a coat of arms; often used as a mark of cadency to distinguish a second son and his descendants.
7. A crescentspot butterfly.

Derived terms

• crescent roll
• Fertile Crescent

Translations

figure of the moon

• Bulgarian: полумесец m (polumesec)
• Danish: halvmåne c
• Dutch: maansikkel
• Finnish: sirppi (fi), kuunsirppi (fi)
• French: croissant (fr)
• German: Mondsichel (de) m
• Greek: ημισέληνος (el) f (imisélinos)
• Hungarian: félhold (hu)
• Italian: crescente (it), falce (it) f

• Japanese: 月型 (tsukigata), 月形 (tsukigata)
• Macedonian: полумесечина f (polumeséčina)
• Navajo: dah yiitʼą́
• Norwegian: månesigd m
• Portuguese: crescente (pt) f
• Russian: полумесяц (ru) m (polumesjac)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: по̏лумјесе̄ц

  Roman: pȍlumjesēc

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

curved pastry

• Danish: horn n
• Dutch: croissant (nl), sikkelvormige rij huizen
• 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 (kurowassan)
• Macedonian: кифла f (kífla)
• Portuguese: croissant (pt) m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic:

  Roman: ròščić m, kíflica 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

• Greek: δρεπανοειδής (el) m (drepanoeidís), μηνοειδής (el) m (minoeidís)
• Portuguese: crescente (pt)
• 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.

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Latin

Verb

crēscent

1. third-person plural future active indicative of crēscō