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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

crest.

The summit of a hill or mountain ridge.

5 characters1 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/kɹɛst/
  1. The summit of a hill or mountain ridge.

  2. A tuft, or other natural ornament, growing on an animal's head, for example the comb of a cockerel, the swelling on the head of a snake, the lengthened feathers of the crown or nape of bird, etc.

  3. The plume of feathers, or other decoration, worn on or displayed on a helmet; the distinctive ornament of a helmet.

  4. A bearing worn, not upon the shield, but usually on a helmet above it, sometimes (as for clerics) separately above the shield or separately as a mark for plate, in letterheads, and the like.

  5. The upper curve of a horse's neck.

  6. The ridge or top of a wave.

  7. The helm or head, as typical of a high spirit; pride; courage.

  8. The ornamental finishing which surmounts the ridge of a roof, canopy, etc.

  9. The top line of a slope or embankment.

  10. A ridge along the surface of a bone.

  11. A design or logo, especially one of an institution, sports club, association or high-class family.

    informal
  12. Any of several birds in the family Regulidae, including the goldcrests and firecrests.

Where this word comes from

From Middle English creste, from Old French creste (modern French crête) and perhaps continuing Old English cræsta (“crest, tuft, plume”); both ultimately from Vulgar Latin *cresta, from Latin crista. Doublet of crista. The informal meaning “design, logo” (noun sense 11) stems from a misinterpretation of the heraldic noun sense 4, which specifically refers to the object placed on top of the helm.

verb/kɹɛst/
  1. Particularly with reference to waves, to reach a peak.

    intransitive
  2. To reach the crest of (e.g. a hill or mountain).

    transitive
  3. To furnish with, or surmount as, a crest; to serve as a crest for.

    transitive
  4. To mark with lines or streaks like waving plumes.

    transitive
Where this word comes from

From Middle English creste, from Old French creste (modern French crête) and perhaps continuing Old English cræsta (“crest, tuft, plume”); both ultimately from Vulgar Latin *cresta, from Latin crista. Doublet of crista. The informal meaning “design, logo” (noun sense 11) stems from a misinterpretation of the heraldic noun sense 4, which specifically refers to the object placed on top of the helm.

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.