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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

croft.

An enclosed piece of land, usually small and arable and used for small-scale food production, and often with a dwelling next to it; in particular, such a piece of land rented to a farmer (a crofter), especially in Scotland, together with a right to use separate pastureland shared by other crofters.

5 characters1 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/kɹɒft/Received-Pronunciation/kɹɔft/General-American/kɹɑft/Canada, US, cot-caught-merger/kɹɒft/Canada, US, cot-caught-merger
  1. An enclosed piece of land, usually small and arable and used for small-scale food production, and often with a dwelling next to it; in particular, such a piece of land rented to a farmer (a crofter), especially in Scotland, together with a right to use separate pastureland shared by other crofters.

Where this word comes from

The noun is derived from Middle English croft, crofft, croffte, croofte, crofte (“croft”), from Old English croft (“enclosed field”); further etymology uncertain, but possibly from Proto-Germanic *kruftaz (“a hill; a curve”), from Proto-Indo-European *grewb- (“to bend; arch, crook, curve”); see also crop. The English word is cognate with Middle Dutch kroft, krocht, crocht (“high and dry land; a field on the downs”), Middle Low German kroch (“enclosed piece of farmland or pasture”), Scots croft, craft (“croft”). The verb is derived from the noun.

verb/kɹɒft/Received-Pronunciation/kɹɔft/General-American/kɹɑft/Canada, US, cot-caught-merger/kɹɒft/Canada, US, cot-caught-merger
  1. To do agricultural work on one or more crofts.

    intransitive
  2. To place (cloth, etc.) on the ground in the open air in order to sun and bleach it.

    archaic · transitive
Where this word comes from

The noun is derived from Middle English croft, crofft, croffte, croofte, crofte (“croft”), from Old English croft (“enclosed field”); further etymology uncertain, but possibly from Proto-Germanic *kruftaz (“a hill; a curve”), from Proto-Indo-European *grewb- (“to bend; arch, crook, curve”); see also crop. The English word is cognate with Middle Dutch kroft, krocht, crocht (“high and dry land; a field on the downs”), Middle Low German kroch (“enclosed piece of farmland or pasture”), Scots croft, craft (“croft”). The verb is derived from the noun.

noun/kɹɒft/Received-Pronunciation/kɹɔft/General-American/kɹɑft/Canada, US, cot-caught-merger/kɹɒft/Canada, US, cot-caught-merger
  1. An underground chamber; a crypt, an undercroft.

    archaic
  2. A cave or cavern.

    archaic
Where this word comes from

From Middle English croft, crofte, croufte, crufte (“crypt; vault”), from Old English cruft, from Latin crupta, crypta (“crypt; vault”), from Ancient Greek κρυπτή (kruptḗ), feminine form of κρῠπτός (krŭptós, “concealed, hidden; secret”), from κρύπτω (krúptō, “to conceal, hide; to obscure”) (further etymology unknown) + -ος (-os). The English word is cognate with Middle Dutch croft, crocht, crochte, crogt, cruft, crufte (modern Dutch krocht (“underground cavity, cave; underground vault, crypt”)), Middle Low German krucht, kruft (“crypt”), Old High German cruft (Middle High German kruft (“cave; crypt”)). Doublet of grotto and crypt.

noun/kɹɒft/Received-Pronunciation/kɹɔft/General-American/kɹɑft/Canada, US, cot-caught-merger/kɹɒft/Canada, US, cot-caught-merger
  1. A carafe.

    archaic
Where this word comes from

A variant of carafe.

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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.