Etymograph

English

crusta

Crusta comes from Latin crusta ‘shell, crust, inlaid work’, 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 CEcrusta2‘shell, crust, inlaid work’
  5. Englishtodaycrusta2

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Latin crusta
  2. 2 Wiktionary, English crusta

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*krews-Wiktionary, Latin crusta‘to form a crust, begin to freeze’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*krustósWiktionary, Latin crusta‘hardened’reconstructed
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*krustosWiktionary, Latin crustareconstructed
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcrustaWiktionary, English crusta‘shell, crust, inlaid work’
  5. EnglishtodaycrustaWiktionary, English crusta

Linked words

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

crystalline, cryopreservation, 7 more

Today it means

noun A crust or shell.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “crusta”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Latin crusta. 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- / crusta

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