overwordExplorer
ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

crumb.

A small piece which breaks off from baked food (such as cake, biscuit or bread).

5 characters1 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/kɹʌm/General-American, Received-Pronunciation/kɹɐm/Australia, New-Zealand/kɹʊm/Midlands, Northern-England/kɾʌm/Scotland

  1. A small piece which breaks off from baked food (such as cake, biscuit or bread).

    countable · uncountable
    The pigeons were happily pecking at crumbs of bread on the ground.

  2. A small piece of any other solid substance.

    countable · uncountable

  3. A bit, small amount.

    countable · figuratively · uncountable
    a crumb of comfort

  4. Ellipsis of crumb rubber.

    abbreviation · alt-of · countable · ellipsis · uncountable

  5. The soft internal portion of bread, surrounded by crust.

    countable · uncountable

  6. A mixture of sugar, cocoa and milk, used to make industrial chocolate.

    countable · uncountable

  7. A nobody; a worthless person.

    countable · slang · uncountable

  8. A body louse (Pediculus humanus).

    countable · slang · uncountable
Where this word comes from

From Middle English crome, cromme, crumme, crume, from Old English cruma (“crumb, fragment”), from Proto-Germanic *krumô, *krūmô (“fragment, crumb”). The b is unetymological, as in limb, and first appeared in the mid-15th century, influenced by crumble and words such as dumb, numb, and thumb. Cognate with Dutch kruim (“crumb”), Low German Krome, Krume (“crumb”), German Krume (“crumb”), Danish krumme (“crumb”), Swedish dialectal krumma (“crumb”), Swedish in kråm (“crumbs, giblets”), Icelandic krumur (“crumb”), Latin grūmus (“a little heap”).

verb/kɹʌm/General-American, Received-Pronunciation/kɹɐm/Australia, New-Zealand/kɹʊm/Midlands, Northern-England/kɾʌm/Scotland

  1. To cover with crumbs.

    transitive

  2. To break into crumbs or small pieces with the fingers; to crumble.

    transitive
Where this word comes from

From Middle English crome, cromme, crumme, crume, from Old English cruma (“crumb, fragment”), from Proto-Germanic *krumô, *krūmô (“fragment, crumb”). The b is unetymological, as in limb, and first appeared in the mid-15th century, influenced by crumble and words such as dumb, numb, and thumb. Cognate with Dutch kruim (“crumb”), Low German Krome, Krume (“crumb”), German Krume (“crumb”), Danish krumme (“crumb”), Swedish dialectal krumma (“crumb”), Swedish in kråm (“crumbs, giblets”), Icelandic krumur (“crumb”), Latin grūmus (“a little heap”).

FROM WORD TO NAME

Try it on your idea.

crumb has 5 characters. Say it out loud, try it alongside a description of your project, and see whether its meaning fits what you want to create.

crumb studiocrumb workshello, crumb

These are naming prompts. Meanings and pronunciation can vary; existing brand and domain uses have not been checked.

Explore the name generator

A word with a source.

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.