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cranny

Valid in Scrabble

Scrabble points
11
Words With Friends
13
Letters
6
Pronunciation
/ˈkɹæni/

Definition of cranny

6 senses · 2 parts of speech · etymology included

noun

  1. A small, narrow opening, fissure, crevice, or chink, as in a wall, or other substance.
    “Down thro the Cranies of the living Walls / The Crystal Streams descend in murm'ring Falls”
    “[H]e peep'd into every Cranny; ſometimes he admir'd the Beauty of the Architecture, and the vaſt Solidity of the Maſon's VVork; at other Times he commended the Symmetry and Proportion of the Rooms.”
    “What a pity they didn’t stop up the chinks and the crannies though, and thrust in a little lint here and there.”
See all 6 definitions

noun

  1. A small, narrow opening, fissure, crevice, or chink, as in a wall, or other substance.
    “Down thro the Cranies of the living Walls / The Crystal Streams descend in murm'ring Falls”
    “[H]e peep'd into every Cranny; ſometimes he admir'd the Beauty of the Architecture, and the vaſt Solidity of the Maſon's VVork; at other Times he commended the Symmetry and Proportion of the Rooms.”
    “What a pity they didn’t stop up the chinks and the crannies though, and thrust in a little lint here and there.”
  2. A tool for forming the necks of bottles, etc.
  3. (India, obsolete)A clerk writing English.
  4. (India, obsolete)A member of the East Indians, or mixed-race people, from among whom English copyists were chiefly recruited.

verb

  1. (intransitive)To break into, or become full of, crannies.
    “The ground did cranie everie where and light did pierce to hell.”
  2. (intransitive)To haunt or enter by crannies.
    “All tenantless, save to the crannying wind.”

Definitions from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA.

Etymology

From Middle English crany, crani (“cranny”), apparently a diminutive of *cran (+ -y), from Old French cran, cren (“notch, fissure”), a derivative of crener (“to notch, split”), from Medieval Latin…

See full etymology

From Middle English crany, crani (“cranny”), apparently a diminutive of *cran (+ -y), from Old French cran, cren (“notch, fissure”), a derivative of crener (“to notch, split”), from Medieval Latin crenō (“split”, verb), from Vulgar Latin *crinō (“split, break”, verb), of obscure origin. Despite a spurious use in Pliny, connection to Latin crēna is doubtful. Instead, probably of Germanic or Celtic origin. Compare Old High German chrinna (“notch, groove, crevice”), Alemannic German Krinne (“small crack, channel, groove”), Low German karn (“notch, groove, crevice, cranny”), Old Irish ara-chrinin (“to perish, decay”).

Words you can make from cranny

25 playable · top: CANNY (10 pts)

Best play canny 10 points

5-letter words

1 word

4-letter words

6 words

3-letter words

12 words

2-letter words

5 words

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