crone

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   disparaging or literary: an old woman, especially one portrayed as ugly or frightening

   The disguised fortune-teller appeared to be a bent old crone.

2. 2
   noun

   an archetypal old woman represented as wise, powerful, or associated with the final stage of life

   In the folktale, the crone tests the traveller before revealing her wisdom.

From Middle English crone, probably through Anglo-Norman carogne, a term of abuse literally meaning 'carrion' or 'carcass'. The disparaging sense later broadened in folklore and modern archetypal language to include a wise or powerful old woman.

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