crayon

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   a small stick or pencil of colored wax, chalk, charcoal, or similar material used for drawing

   The child used a blue crayon to draw the sea.

2. 2
   noun

   a drawing made with crayons, or the artistic medium used to make such a drawing

   The gallery displayed a delicate crayon by a nineteenth-century portraitist.

3. 3
   verb

   to draw, write, or color with crayons

   She crayoned a bright border around the invitation.

Appears in

Simplified etymology

Crayon was borrowed from French in the mid-17th century and derives from French craie, “chalk.” Craie in turn comes from Latin creta, also the source of cretaceous.

Borrowed in the seventeenth century from French crayon, 'pencil,' formed from craie, 'chalk,' plus the noun suffix -on. Craie descends from Latin creta, 'chalk or clay.' English broadened the word from chalk-based drawing tools to sticks of wax, charcoal, and other colored materials.

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External links

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• Cambridge Dictionary
• Wiktionary