CRONE
What does "CRONE" mean?
An old woman, often portrayed as withered, ugly, or witch-like.
Meanings
- An old woman, traditionally depicted as ugly or sinister. In the fairy tale a bent old crone offers the girl a poisoned apple.
- In some modern and pagan usage, the wise elder woman as a stage of life, reclaimed as a figure of power. She embraced becoming a crone, the keeper of the village's old stories. figurative
Did you know?
- The insult buried in 'crone' is brutal: it traces back to Old French 'carogne', meaning 'carcass' - so calling a woman a crone once literally compared her to rotting flesh.
Word origin
From Anglo-French 'carogne' (carcass, also a term of abuse for an old woman), from Latin 'caro' (flesh); the word's roots literally compare the old woman to carrion.
Remember it
CRONE is a CRO(w) plus the E of Elder - the dark bird and the old woman share the same folklore corner.
A little poem
They called her carcass once, in an older tongue-
but the crone outlived the men who named her so,
and kept every story they were too young to know.
tercet
What it teaches
A culture reveals its fears in the words it gives its oldest women - and its wisdom in reclaiming them.
Quick facts
What does CRONE mean?
An old woman, often portrayed as withered, ugly, or witch-like.
Is CRONE a valid word?
Yes — CRONE is one of the answer words in Wordul, the daily word game.
How many letters is CRONE?
CRONE has 5 letters and 1 syllable.
Where does CRONE come from?
From Anglo-French 'carogne' (carcass, also a term of abuse for an old woman), from Latin 'caro' (flesh); the word's roots literally compare the old woman to carrion.
What can CRONE teach us?
A culture reveals its fears in the words it gives its oldest women - and its wisdom in reclaiming them.
How players do
Be the first to solve it.