cranny
Plural: crannies
Noun
- A small, narrow opening, crack, or crevice.
- a long narrow depression in a surface
- a small opening or crevice (especially in a rock face or wall)
- A small, narrow opening, fissure, crevice, or chink, as in a wall, or other substance.
- A tool for forming the necks of bottles, etc.
- A clerk writing English.
- A member of the East Indians, or mixed-race people, from among whom English copyists were chiefly recruited.
Verb
- To break into, or become full of, crannies.
- To haunt or enter by crannies.
Examples
- She found the perfect cranny on the board for the word JINX.
Origin / 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”).
Scrabble Score: 11
cranny: valid Scrabble (US) TWL Wordcranny: valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
cranny: valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary
Words With Friends Score: 13
cranny: valid Words With Friends Word