crutch

Meaning

Noun

1. A device to assist in motion as a cane, especially one that provides support under the arm to reduce weight on a leg.
2. Something or someone that supports, often used negatively to indicate that it is not needed and causes an unhealthful dependency; a prop
3. A crotch; the area of body where the legs fork from the trunk.
4. A form of pommel for a woman's saddle, consisting of a forked rest to hold the leg of the rider.
5. A knee, or piece of knee timber.
6. A forked stanchion or post; a crotch.
7. (slang) An improvised device, usually made from a piece of cardboard, to hold the last end of a joint.

Verb

1. (transitive) To support on crutches; to prop up.
2. (intransitive) To move on crutches.
3. (transitive) To shear the hindquarters of a sheep; to dag.
4. (transitive) to stir with a crutch.

Synonyms

staff

cane

walking stick

stick

support

crutches

crotch

prop

stay

walking-stick

strut

hold up

hold-up

pitch

rowlock

send

shore

shuttle

spike

spindle

stud

suspensory

sustain

sustainment

thigh

upright

dog nail

dog-nail

crutched/walking stick

dog spike

rail spike

upright post

spike nail

upright stanchion

vertical prop

upright column

plate nail

railroad spike

standard

road spike

adhesion

aid

bear

🐻

bracket

cantilever

crosier

crozier

frame

groin

holdfast

Translations

muleta

🩼

Krücke

🩼

béquille

stampella

🩼

gruccia

🩼

muleta

🩼

kruk

crossa

🩼

δεκανίκι

bastón

palo

Stock

πατερίτσα

koltuk değneği

🩼

Pronounced as (IPA)

/kɹʌt͡ʃ/

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English: crucche

Inherited from Old English: cryċċ

Cognate with Scots: curche

Cognate with Dutch: kruk

Cognate with Low German: krukke

Cognate with German: Krücke

Cognate with Swedish: krycka

Cognate with Latin: crucia

In summary

From Middle English crucche, from Old English cryċċ (“crutch, staff”), from Proto-West Germanic *krukkju, from Proto-Germanic *krukjō (“crutch, staff”), from Proto-Indo-European *grewg- (“wrinkle, bend”), from Proto-Indo-European *ger- (“to turn, bend”).
Cognate with Scots curche, crutch (“crutch, stilts”), Dutch kruk (“crutch”), Low German krukke, Krück (“crutch”), German Krücke (“crutch”), Swedish krycka (“crutch”). Latin crucia, crucca, croccia, crocia (“crutch”), and its descendants are ultimately from the Germanic.