*SET-U

English word origin

Etymology of crop

From Middle English crop, croppe, from Old English cropp, croppa (“the head or top of a plant, a sprout or herb, a bunch or cluster of flowers, an ear of corn, the craw of a bird, a kidney”), from Proto-West Germanic *kr

2 source sectionsExtended source reportWiktionary original ↗
In this entry · 2 source sections

The source etymologies

Wiktionary via Kaikki / Wiktextract

The source reports below are imported and unreviewed by *SET-U. Separate numbered origins and differing source variants are preserved; agreement within this extraction is not independent corroboration.

Source etymology 1

Original entry ↗
noun

A plant, grown for it, or its fruits or seeds, to be harvested as food, livestock fodder, or fuel or for any other economic purpose. · The production amount of such an output for a specific season or year, particularly of plants. · A group, cluster, or collection of things occurring at the same time. · A group of vesicles at the same stage of development in a disease.

Selected source glosses provide context, not a complete modern definition inventory

From Middle English crop, croppe, from Old English cropp, croppa (“the head or top of a plant, a sprout or herb, a bunch or cluster of flowers, an ear of corn, the craw of a bird, a kidney”), from Proto-West Germanic *kropp, from Proto-Germanic *kruppaz (“body, trunk, crop”), from Proto-Indo-European *grewb- (“to warp, bend, crawl”). Doublet of group. Cognates Cognate with Dutch krop (“crop”), German Low German Kropp (“a swelling on the neck, the craw, maw”), German Kropf (“the craw, ear of grain, head of lettuce or cabbage”), Danish, Norwegian, and Swedish kropp (“body, trunk”), Faroese and Icelandic kroppur (“body”). Related to crap. Doublet of group and croup.

Relationships mentioned by the source

These are extracted mentions, not a timeline or a verified sequence of immediate parents.

This page abbreviates 13 auxiliary source items. The etymology narrative is not shortened. Omission counts are available in the audit fields below; consult the original for complete auxiliary material.

Inspect preserved source fields

Raw extraction fields are retained for auditing. Their order does not establish ancestry.

{
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    {
      "name": "inh",
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "enm",
        "3": "crop"
      },
      "expansion": "Middle English crop"
    },
    {
      "name": "inh",
      "args": {
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        "2": "ang",
        "3": "cropp"
      },
      "expansion": "Old English cropp"
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    },
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        "3": "",
        "4": "crop"
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      "expansion": "Dutch krop (“crop”)"
    },
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      "name": "cog",
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        "3": "",
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      },
      "expansion": "German Low German Kropp (“a swelling on the neck, the craw, maw”)"
    },
    {
      "name": "cog",
      "args": {
        "1": "de",
        "2": "Kropf",
        "3": "",
        "4": "the craw, ear of grain, head of lettuce or cabbage"
      },
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    },
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      "args": {
        "1": "da",
        "2": "-"
      },
      "expansion": "Danish"
    },
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      "name": "cog",
      "args": {
        "1": "no",
        "2": "-"
      },
      "expansion": "Norwegian"
    },
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      "args": {
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        "2": "kropp",
        "3": "",
        "4": "body, trunk"
      },
      "expansion": "Swedish kropp (“body, trunk”)"
    },
    {
      "name": "cog",
      "args": {
        "1": "fo",
        "2": "-"
      },
      "expansion": "Faroese"
    },
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      "name": "cog",
      "args": {
        "1": "is",
        "2": "kroppur",
        "3": "",
        "4": "body"
      },
      "expansion": "Icelandic kroppur (“body”)"
    },
    {
      "name": "doublet",
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      },
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    }
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      "crop",
      "crop#Middle_English"
    ],
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    ],
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      "cropp#Old_English"
    ],
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      "croppa",
      "croppa#Old_English"
    ],
    [
      "*kropp",
      "Reconstruction:Proto-West Germanic/kropp"
    ],
    [
      "*kruppaz",
      "Reconstruction:Proto-Germanic/kruppaz"
    ],
    [
      "*grewb-",
      "Reconstruction:Proto-Indo-European/grewb-"
    ],
    [
      "group",
      "group#English"
    ],
    [
      "krop",
      "krop#Dutch"
    ],
    [
      "Kropp",
      "Kropp#Low_German"
    ],
    [
      "Kropf",
      "Kropf#German"
    ],
    [
      "kropp",
      "kropp#Swedish"
    ],
    [
      "kroppur",
      "kroppur#Icelandic"
    ],
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      "crap",
      "crap#English"
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        "A plant, grown for it, or its fruits or seeds, to be harvested as food, livestock fodder, or fuel or for any other economic purpose.",
        "The production amount of such an output for a specific season or year, particularly of plants.",
        "A group, cluster, or collection of things occurring at the same time.",
        "A group of vesicles at the same stage of development in a disease."
      ],
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}

Source etymology 2

Original entry ↗
verb

To remove the top end of something, especially a plant. · To mow, reap or gather. · To cut (especially hair or an animal's tail or ears) short. · To remove the outer parts of a photograph or other image, typically in order to frame the subject better.

Selected source glosses provide context, not a complete modern definition inventory

From Middle English croppen (“to cut, pluck and eat”), from Old English *croppian. Cognate with Scots crap (“to crop”), Dutch kroppen (“to cram, digest”), Low German kröppen (“to cut, crop, stuff the craw”), German kröpfen (“to crop”), Icelandic kroppa (“to cut, crop, pick”). Literally, to take off the crop (top, head, ear) of a plant. See Etymology 1.

Relationships mentioned by the source

These are extracted mentions, not a timeline or a verified sequence of immediate parents.

This page abbreviates 3 auxiliary source items. The etymology narrative is not shortened. Omission counts are available in the audit fields below; consult the original for complete auxiliary material.

Inspect preserved source fields

Raw extraction fields are retained for auditing. Their order does not establish ancestry.

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        "3": "croppen",
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    },
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        "2": "crap",
        "3": "",
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      "expansion": "Scots crap (“to crop”)"
    },
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        "3": "",
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    },
    {
      "name": "cog",
      "args": {
        "1": "nds",
        "2": "kröppen",
        "3": "",
        "4": "to cut, crop, stuff the craw"
      },
      "expansion": "Low German kröppen (“to cut, crop, stuff the craw”)"
    },
    {
      "name": "cog",
      "args": {
        "1": "de",
        "2": "kröpfen",
        "3": "",
        "4": "to crop"
      },
      "expansion": "German kröpfen (“to crop”)"
    },
    {
      "name": "cog",
      "args": {
        "1": "is",
        "2": "kroppa",
        "3": "",
        "4": "to cut, crop, pick"
      },
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    }
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    ],
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    ],
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      "crap",
      "crap#Scots"
    ],
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      "kroppen",
      "kroppen#Dutch"
    ],
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      "kröppen",
      "kröppen#Low_German"
    ],
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      "kröpfen",
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      "kroppa#Icelandic"
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}

Where this record stops

This page does not supply an independently verified sound-change sequence, first-use manuscript or complete family tree unless a cited analysis explicitly establishes one. Missing detail here is a limit of this record—not a claim that humanity knows nothing more.

An older meaning does not determine what a word must mean today. Follow the sources, preserve disagreements, and keep ancestry separate from interpretation.

Contribute located evidence for crop →

Source and snapshot

Imported from Wiktionary contributors; extracted by Tatu Ylonen / Wiktextract / Kaikki.org. Selected fields are reformatted and grouped; wording, source identity and etymology sections are retained. CC-BY-SA-4.0 applies to the imported source material.

Dump: 2026-10-01 · Extracted: 2026-10-30. These are snapshot dates, not the word’s first attestation or the page’s revision date.

Source entry and bibliography ↗Wiktionary revision history ↗Acquisition and rights ledger
Machine-source provenance
Source SHA-256
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Import run
73216b9a9b78ed3830994bf853103716f5a4dc57099e371e9f8fdc468facca26
Permanent entry ID
w-Y3JvcA