Etymograph

English

crap

Crap comes from Middle English crappe ‘chaff, grain husks’, and goes back to Old Dutch krappen ‘to cut off, pluck off’.

  1. Old Dutchc. 500–1150krappen1‘to cut off’
  2. Old Frenchc. 842–1400crappe1
  3. Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600crape1
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500crappe1‘chaff’
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1954crap1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English crap
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1954, Ian Fleming, Table Z: “'Be seeing you.' 'Crap,' said the negro with conviction.…”.

Lineage

  1. Old Dutchc. 500–1150krappenWiktionary, English crap‘to cut off’
  2. Old Frenchc. 842–1400crappeWiktionary, English crap
  3. Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600crapeWiktionary, English crap
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500crappeWiktionary, English crap‘chaff’
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1954crapWiktionary, English crap. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1954, Ian Fleming, Table Z: “'Be seeing you.' 'Crap,' said the negro with conviction.…”

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Today it means

noun The husk of grain; chaff.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “crap”. 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 / Old Dutch krappen / crap