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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

crouch.

To bend down; to stoop low; to stand close to the ground with legs bent, like an animal when waiting for prey, or someone in fear.

6 characters1 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

verb/ˈkɹaʊ̯t͡ʃ/General-American, Received-Pronunciation[ˈkʰɹʷaʊ̯t͡ʃ]General-American, Received-Pronunciation/ˈkɹɐʊ̯t͡ʃ/[ˈkʰɹʷɐʊ̯t͡ʃ]
  1. To bend down; to stoop low; to stand close to the ground with legs bent, like an animal when waiting for prey, or someone in fear.

    intransitive
    We crouched behind the low wall until the squad of soldiers had passed by.
  2. To bend servilely; to bow in reverence or humility.

    intransitive
Where this word comes from

From Middle English crouchen (“to bend, crouch”), variant of croken (“to bend, crook”), from crok (“crook, hook”), from Old Norse krókr (“hook”), from Proto-Germanic *krōkaz (“hook”), from Proto-Indo-European *gerg- (“wicker, bend”), from Proto-Indo-European *ger- (“to turn, wind, weave”). Compare Middle Dutch krōken (“to crook, curl”). More at crook.

noun/ˈkɹaʊ̯t͡ʃ/General-American, Received-Pronunciation[ˈkʰɹʷaʊ̯t͡ʃ]General-American, Received-Pronunciation/ˈkɹɐʊ̯t͡ʃ/[ˈkʰɹʷɐʊ̯t͡ʃ]
  1. A bent or stooped position.

    The cat waited in a crouch, hidden behind the hedge.
Where this word comes from

From Middle English crouchen (“to bend, crouch”), variant of croken (“to bend, crook”), from crok (“crook, hook”), from Old Norse krókr (“hook”), from Proto-Germanic *krōkaz (“hook”), from Proto-Indo-European *gerg- (“wicker, bend”), from Proto-Indo-European *ger- (“to turn, wind, weave”). Compare Middle Dutch krōken (“to crook, curl”). More at crook.

noun/ˈkɹaʊ̯t͡ʃ/General-American, Received-Pronunciation[ˈkʰɹʷaʊ̯t͡ʃ]General-American, Received-Pronunciation/ˈkɹɐʊ̯t͡ʃ/[ˈkʰɹʷɐʊ̯t͡ʃ]
  1. A cross.

    obsolete
Where this word comes from

From Middle English crouche, cruche, from Old English crūċ (“cross”). Compare Old Saxon krūci (“cross”), Old High German krūzi (“cross”). Doublet of cross and crux.

verb/ˈkɹaʊ̯t͡ʃ/General-American, Received-Pronunciation[ˈkʰɹʷaʊ̯t͡ʃ]General-American, Received-Pronunciation/ˈkɹɐʊ̯t͡ʃ/[ˈkʰɹʷɐʊ̯t͡ʃ]
  1. To sign with the cross; bless.

    obsolete
Where this word comes from

From Middle English crouche, cruche, from Old English crūċ (“cross”). Compare Old Saxon krūci (“cross”), Old High German krūzi (“cross”). Doublet of cross and crux.

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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.