Etymograph

English

crack

Crack comes from Middle English crakken, from Old English cracian ‘to resound, crack’, from Proto-West Germanic *krakōn, ultimately from PIE *gerh₂-.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*gerh₂-1‘to resound; to cry hoarsely’reconstructed
  2. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*krakōn1‘to crack; to crackle’reconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150cracian1‘to resound; to crack’
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500crakken1
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1590crack1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English crack
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1590, Edmund Spenser, Book II, Canto XI: “Slaunderous reproches,and fowle infamies, / Leaſings,backbytings,and vaineglorious crakes”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*gerh₂-Wiktionary, English crack‘to resound; to cry hoarsely’reconstructed
  2. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*krakōnWiktionary, English crack‘to crack; to crackle’reconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150cracianWiktionary, English crack‘to resound; to crack’
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500crakkenWiktionary, English crack
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1590crackWiktionary, English crack. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1590, Edmund Spenser, Book II, Canto XI: “Slaunderous reproches,and fowle infamies, / Leaſings,backbytings,and vaineglorious crakes”

Word family

English words that share an ancestor with crack, grouped by the ancestor they share, most familiar first.

through Proto-Indo-European *gerg-

  • crochet ← croc ← *krōk ← *krōkaz
  • crouch ← crouchen ← croken ← krókr ← *krōkaz
  • encroach ← encrochen ← encrochier ← croc ← *krōk

through Proto-West Germanic *krakōn ‘to crack, crackle, shriek’

  • cricket ← creket ← criket ← criquer ← kricken
  • creak ← creken ← cearcian
  • crick ← crikken

10 more relatives in the full family tree

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Today it means

verb To form cracks.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “crack”. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *gerh₂- / crack