Etymograph

English

cribration

Cribration comes from Latin cribrō ‘to sift’, from crībrum ‘sieve, riddle, winnow’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *krey-.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*krey-1‘to sieve, pick out, separate’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*kréydʰrom1reconstructed
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*kreiðrom1reconstructed
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcrībrum2‘sieve, riddle, winnow’
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcribrō3as cribrare‘to sift’
  6. Englishtodaycribration3

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Latin cribrum
  2. 2 Wiktionary, Latin cribro
  3. 3 Wiktionary, English cribration

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*krey-Wiktionary, Latin cribrum‘to sieve, pick out, separate’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*kréydʰromWiktionary, Latin cribrumreconstructed
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*kreiðromWiktionary, Latin cribrumreconstructed
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcrībrumWiktionary, Latin cribro‘sieve, riddle, winnow’
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcribrōWiktionary, English cribrationas cribrare‘to sift’
  6. EnglishtodaycribrationWiktionary, English cribration

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *krey- ‘to sieve, pick out, separate’

certain, secretary, secret, crime, criminal, crisis, discrimination, critic, discrete, critique, discretion, discreet, riddle, discern, discriminate, hypocrite, criterion, endocrine, excrement, rime, incriminate, excrete, excretion, ridder, certitude, criterium, incrimination, recrimination, 44 more

Today it means

noun sifting, especially of the finer parts of drugs from the coarser parts.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “cribration”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entries for Latin cribrum, Latin cribro. 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 *krey- / cribration

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