English
crinkle
Crinkle comes from Middle English crenclen ‘to bend, buckle’, from Old English crincan ‘to yield’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ger- ‘to turn, wind’.
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*ger-1‘to turn, wind’reconstructed
- Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*kringaną1‘to turn, to fall, to yield’reconstructed
- Old Englishc. 450–1150crincan1‘to yield’
- Old Englishc. 450–1150*crinclian1reconstructedfrequentative form of crincan
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500crenclen1‘to bend, buckle’
- Englishearliest quotation 1856crinkle1
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
- 1 Wiktionary, English crinkle
- Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1856, Elizabeth Browning: “All the rooms were full of crinkling silks.”.
Lineage
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*ger-Wiktionary, English crinkle‘to turn, wind’reconstructed
- Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*kringanąWiktionary, English crinkle‘to turn, to fall, to yield’reconstructed
- Old Englishc. 450–1150crincanWiktionary, English crinkle‘to yield’
- Old Englishc. 450–1150*crinclianWiktionary, English crinklereconstructedfrequentative form of crincan
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500crenclenWiktionary, English crinkle‘to bend, buckle’
- Englishearliest quotation 1856crinkleWiktionary, English crinkle. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1856, Elizabeth Browning: “All the rooms were full of crinkling silks.”
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *ger- ‘to turn, wind’
creek, griffin, crate, crotch, crouch, cram, crutch, crosse, cripple, 9 more
through Proto-Germanic *kringaną ‘to turn, to fall, to yield’
Today it means
verb To fold, crease, crumple, or wad.
Sources
Sources: Wiktionary, “crinkle”. 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 *ger- / crinkle