Etymology Explorer › French

Where does “crawler” come from?

crawler (French) comes from French crawl, from English crawl, from Middle English crawlen, from Old Norse krafla, from Proto-Germanic krablōną, from Proto-Germanic krabbōną, from Proto-Indo-European gerbʰ-, from Proto-Indo-European ger- — to turn, bend, twist, wind; to tie, bind...

crawler (French): to swim using the crawl stroke; to spider

Definitions

  1. to swim using the crawl stroke; to spider

Ancestry of “crawler”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Frenchcrawlcrawl
2EnglishcrawlTo creep; to move slowly on hands and knees, or...
3Middle Englishcrawlento crawl
4Old Norsekrafla—
5Proto-Germanickrablōną—
6Proto-Germanickrabbōnąto scratch, scrape
7Proto-Indo-Europeangerbʰ-to carve
8Proto-Indo-Europeanger-to turn, bend, twist, wind; to tie, bind...
Every word from Proto-Indo-European ger- →