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PlainSpell

cripple

crip·ple/ˈkɹɪp(ə)l/noun, verb

cripple is spelled C-R-I-P-P-L-E: 7 letters and 2 syllables (crip·ple). It appears 1.7 times per million words in written English, the 21,798th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As an offensive noun, cripple means “A person who has severely impaired physical abilities because of deformation, injury, or amputation of parts of the body” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of cripple is cripples.

How many letters and syllables are in cripple?

Letters7: C-R-I-P-P-L-E
Syllables2: crip·ple
In writing1.7 times per million words; the 21,798th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Same letters

Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.

How common is cripple?

Cripple appears 1.7 times per million words in written English, the 21,798th most frequent word form in the list.

Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How do you pronounce cripple?

  • /ˈkɹɪp(ə)l/

Cripple has 2 syllables, split crip·ple in writing.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-cripple.wav, LL-Q1860_(eng)-Wodencafe-cripple.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

What rhymes with cripple?

No other word on PlainSpell ends in the same sounds as cripple.

Spelled with the same letters in another order: clipper.

Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).

Forms of cripple

  • cripples plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • crippling participle, present
  • crippled participle, past

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does cripple mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

noun

  1. 1

    offensiveA person who has severely impaired physical abilities because of deformation, injury, or amputation of parts of the body.

    He returned from war a cripple.

  2. 2

    A person who is severely impaired or deficient in some non-physical way.

  3. 3

    A shortened wooden stud or brace used to construct the portion of a wall above a door or above and below a window.

  4. 4

    Scrapple.

  5. 5

    A rocky shallow in a stream.

verb

  1. 1

    To make someone a cripple; to cause someone to become physically impaired.

    The car bomb crippled five passers-by.

  2. 2

    To damage seriously; to destroy.

    My ambitions were crippled by a lack of money.

  3. 3

    To cause severe and disabling damage; to make unable to function normally.

  4. 4

    To release a product (especially a computer program) with reduced functionality, in some cases, making the item essentially worthless.

    The word processor was released in a crippled demonstration version that did not allow you to save.

  5. 5

    slangTo nerf something to the point of being underpowered.

adjective

  1. 1

    archaicdatedCrippled.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Cripple in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Spanishlisiado (crippled), lisiada (person who has severe impairment in physical…), discapacitar, lisiar, tullir, derrengar (to give someone a physical disability)
Frenchestropié, infirme (person who has severe impairment in physical…), estropier (to give someone a physical disability)
GermanKrüppel (person who has severe impairment in physical…), verkrüppeln, lähmen (to give someone a physical disability), zunichte machen (to damage seriously; to destroy)
Portuguesealeijado, aleijada (person who has severe impairment in physical…)

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.

Where does cripple come from?

From Middle English cripel, crepel, crüpel, from Old English crypel (“crippled; a cripple”), from Proto-Germanic *krupilaz (“tending to crawl; a cripple”), from Proto-Indo-European *grewb- (“to bend, crouch, crawl”), from Proto-Indo-European *ger- (“to bend, twist”), equivalent to creep + -le.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What to look up after cripple