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crescent

Pronunciation: /ˈkɹɛz.ənt/

The English word “crescent” has 12 meanings listed here.

noun

  1. The figure of the moon as it appears between its first or last quarter and the new moon, with concave and convex edges terminating in points.
  2. A curved pastry.
  3. A curved street, often presenting a continuous façade, as of row houses.
  4. A representation of a crescent, used as a symbol of Islam.
  5. The emblem of the waxing moon with horns directed upward, when used in a coat of arms; often used as a mark of cadency to distinguish a second son and his descendants.
  6. A crescent spanner.
  7. Any of three orders of knighthood conferred upon foreigners to whom Turkey might be indebted for valuable services.
  8. A crescentspot butterfly.

adjective

  1. Marked by an increase; waxing, like the moon.
  2. Shaped like a crescent.

verb

  1. To form a crescent shape.
  2. To decorate with crescents.

Etymology

From Middle English cressaunt, from Anglo-Norman cressaunt and Old French creissant (“crescent of the moon”) (French croissant), from Latin crēscēns, present active participle of crēscō (“arise, thrive”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱreh₁- (“to grow”). See Old Armenian սերիմ (serim, “be born”) and սերեմ (serem, “bring forth”), Ancient Greek κόρη (kórē, “girl”) and κούρος (koúros, “boy”), Latin…

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Definitions are from Wiktionary, extracted by Kaikki.org, and are available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.