Etymograph

English

crust

Crust comes from Latin crusta ‘hard outer covering’, from Proto-Indo-European *krustós ‘hardened’, and ultimately from *krews- ‘to form a crust, begin to freeze’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*krews-1‘to form a crust, begin to freeze’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*krustós1‘hardened’reconstructed
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*krustos1reconstructed
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcrusta1‘hard outer covering’
  5. Anglo-Normanc. 1066–1400cruste1
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500cruste1
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1662crust1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English crust
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1662, Robert Boyle: “The whole body is crusted over with ice.”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*krews-Wiktionary, English crust‘to form a crust, begin to freeze’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*krustósWiktionary, English crust‘hardened’reconstructed
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*krustosWiktionary, English crustreconstructed
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcrustaWiktionary, English crust‘hard outer covering’
  5. Anglo-Normanc. 1066–1400crusteWiktionary, English crust
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500crusteWiktionary, English crust
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1662crustWiktionary, English crust. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1662, Robert Boyle: “The whole body is crusted over with ice.”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *krews- ‘to form a crust, begin to freeze’

crystalline, cryopreservation, 7 more

Today it means

noun A more solid, dense or hard layer on a surface or boundary.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “crust”. 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 *krews- / crust

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