Etymograph

English

cruise

Cruise comes from Dutch kruisen ‘cross, sail around’, and goes back to Proto-Italic *kruks.

  1. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*kruks1reconstructed
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcrux2‘wooden frame on which criminals were crucified, especially a cross’
  3. Middle Dutchc. 1150–1500cruce2
  4. Dutchc. 1500–presentkruis2‘cross’
  5. Dutchc. 1500–presentkruisen2‘cross, sail around’
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1897cruise2

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Latin crux, which cites Pokorny
  2. 2 Wiktionary, English cruise
  3. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1897, Winston Churchill: “Judge Short had gone to town, and Farrar was…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*kruksWiktionary, Latin crux, which cites Pokornyreconstructed
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcruxWiktionary, English cruise‘wooden frame on which criminals were crucified, especially a cross’
  3. Middle Dutchc. 1150–1500cruceWiktionary, English cruise
  4. Dutchc. 1500–presentkruisWiktionary, English cruise‘cross’
  5. Dutchc. 1500–presentkruisenWiktionary, English cruise‘cross, sail around’
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1897cruiseWiktionary, English cruise. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1897, Winston Churchill: “Judge Short had gone to town, and Farrar was…”

Linked words

through Latin crux ‘wooden frame on which criminals were…’

across, cross, crusade, crouch, crucible, excruciating, crux, cruciform, 7 more

Today it means

noun A sea or lake voyage, especially one taken for pleasure.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “cruise”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Latin crux. 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-Italic *kruks / cruise

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