Skip to the word

Added 9 October 2026

crumble

/ˈkɹʌmbəl/ verb

In Latin: friō Wiktionary

verb Definition from WordNet 3.1, Princeton University. Pronunciation from Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org. More about crumble at Wordnik → Where our words come from →

Fall apart.
the building crumbled after the explosion
Break or fall apart into fragments.
The cookies crumbled
Fall into decay or ruin.
The unoccupied house started to decay

Origin

From earlier crymble, crimble, from Middle English *crymblen, kremelen, from Old English *crymlan (“to crumble”), from *crymel (“a small crumb; crumble”), diminutive of Old English cruma (“crumb”), equivalent to crumb + -le (diminutive suffix). Compare Dutch kruimelen (“to crumble”), German Low German krömmeln (“to crumble”), German Krümel, diminutive of German Krume, German krümeln, krümmeln (“to crumble”). Alteration of vowel due to analogy with crumb.

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

Back to today's word