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Added 9 October 2026

croft

/kɹɒft/ noun

noun Definition from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). Pronunciation from Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org. More about croft at Wordnik → Where our words come from →

An enclosed piece of land, usually small and arable and used for small-scale food production, and often with a dwelling next to it; in particular, such a piece of land rented to a farmer (a crofter), especially in Scotland, together with a right to use separate pastureland shared by other crofters.

verb

To do agricultural work on one or more crofts.
To place (cloth, etc.) on the ground in the open air in order to sun and bleach it.

noun

An underground chamber; a crypt, an undercroft.
A cave or cavern.

noun

A carafe.

Origin

The noun is derived from Middle English croft, crofft, croffte, croofte, crofte (“croft”), from Old English croft (“enclosed field”); further etymology uncertain, but possibly from Proto-Germanic *kruftaz (“a hill; a curve”), from Proto-Indo-European *grewb- (“to bend; arch, crook, curve”); see also crop. The English word is cognate with Middle Dutch kroft, krocht, crocht (“high and dry land; a field on the downs”), Middle Low German kroch (“enclosed piece of farmland or pasture”), Scots croft, craft (“croft”). The verb is derived from the noun.

From Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org (CC BY-SA)

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