Etymograph

English

criminy

Criminy may come from Italian crimine ‘crime’.

  1. Italianc. 1300–presentcrimine1‘crime’uncertain
  2. Englishtodaycriminy1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English criminy

Earlier history uncertain. See Wiktionary.

Lineage

  1. Italianc. 1300–presentcrimineWiktionary, English criminy‘crime’uncertain
  2. EnglishtodaycriminyWiktionary, English criminy

first attested First attested in the 1680s (as stated in Wiktionary’s etymology)

The story

Either from Italian crimine (‘crime’), or a minced oath from "Christ's money" (in reference to the silver that Judas was paid for betraying Jesus), or a deformation of Gemini (which was recorded as an oath from the 1660s). First attested in the 1680s.

Full etymology on Wiktionary

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *krey- ‘sieve’

certain, secretary, secret, crisis, discretion, discrimination, critic, critique, discrete, discreet, discern, riddle, criterion, hypocrite, discriminate, excrement, endocrine, excretion, excrete, certitude, ridder, rime, criterium, incriminate, incrimination, 45 more

through Latin crīmen ‘a crime, fault, offense’

crime, recrimination, 4 more

Today it means

intj Expressing surprise or impatience.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “criminy”. 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 / Italian crimine / criminy

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