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crust.

A more solid, dense or hard layer on a surface or boundary.

5 characters1 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/kɹʌst//kɹʊst/Northern-England

  1. A more solid, dense or hard layer on a surface or boundary.

    countable · uncountable

  2. The external, hardened layer of certain foodstuffs, including most types of bread, fried meat, etc.

    countable · uncountable

  3. An outer layer composed of pastry

    countable · uncountable

  4. The bread-like base of a pizza.

    countable · uncountable

  5. A slice of bread cut from the end of a loaf; the heel.

    Australia · Canada · Ireland · New-Zealand · Northern-US · UK · countable · uncountable

  6. The outermost layer of the lithosphere of the Earth.

    countable · uncountable

  7. The outermost layer of the lithosphere of any terrestrial planet.

    broadly · countable · uncountable

  8. The shell of crabs, lobsters, etc.

    countable · uncountable

  9. A living.

    Australia · UK · countable · informal · uncountable
    to earn one's crust

  10. Nerve, gall.

    informal · uncountable
    You've got a lot of crust standing there saying that.

  11. The head.

    Australia · UK · countable · dated · slang · uncountable

  12. Ellipsis of crust punk, a subgenre of punk music.

    abbreviation · alt-of · countable · ellipsis · uncountable
Where this word comes from

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *krews- Proto-Indo-European *-tós Proto-Indo-European *krustós Proto-Italic *krustosder. Latin crusta Anglo-Norman crustebor. Middle English cruste English crust From Middle English cruste, from Anglo-Norman and Old French cruste, from Latin crusta (“hard outer covering”), from Proto-Indo-European *krustós (“hardened”), from *krews- (“to form a crust, begin to freeze”), related to Old Norse hroðr (“scurf”), Old English hruse (“earth”), Old High German hrosa (“crust, ice”), Latvian kruvesis (“frozen mud”), Ancient Greek κρύος (krúos, “frost, icy cold”), κρύσταλλος (krústallos, “crystal, ice”), Avestan 𐬑𐬭𐬎𐬰𐬛𐬭𐬀- (xruzdra-, “hard”), Sanskrit क्रूड् (krūḍ, “thicken, make hard”). Doublet of crusta.

verb/kɹʌst//kɹʊst/Northern-England

  1. To cover with a crust.

    transitive

  2. To form a crust.

    intransitive
Where this word comes from

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *krews- Proto-Indo-European *-tós Proto-Indo-European *krustós Proto-Italic *krustosder. Latin crusta Anglo-Norman crustebor. Middle English cruste English crust From Middle English cruste, from Anglo-Norman and Old French cruste, from Latin crusta (“hard outer covering”), from Proto-Indo-European *krustós (“hardened”), from *krews- (“to form a crust, begin to freeze”), related to Old Norse hroðr (“scurf”), Old English hruse (“earth”), Old High German hrosa (“crust, ice”), Latvian kruvesis (“frozen mud”), Ancient Greek κρύος (krúos, “frost, icy cold”), κρύσταλλος (krústallos, “crystal, ice”), Avestan 𐬑𐬭𐬎𐬰𐬛𐬭𐬀- (xruzdra-, “hard”), Sanskrit क्रूड् (krūḍ, “thicken, make hard”). Doublet of crusta.

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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.