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PlainSpell

crow

/kɹoʊ/noun, adjective, verb

crow is spelled C-R-O-W: 4 letters and one syllable. It appears 6.3 times per million words in written English, the 9,594th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, crow means “A bird, usually black, of the genus Corvus, having a strong conical beak, with projecting bristles; it has a harsh, croaking call” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of crow is crows.

How many letters and syllables are in crow?

Letters4: C-R-O-W
Syllables1 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing6.3 times per million words; the 9,594th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Sounds like
Rhymes with

Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; 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 crow?

Crow appears 6.3 times per million words in written English, the 9,594th 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 crow?

  • UK /kɹəʊ/
  • US /kɹoʊ/

Crow has one syllable (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-crow.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Words people confuse with crow

Sounds like: cro (Wiktionary's homophone list; some hold only in some accents).

Also written: crew, cro.

Sources: English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).

What rhymes with crow?

The 12 most written words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as crow from its last stressed vowel (/oʊ/):

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 crow

  • crows plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • crowing participle, present
  • crowed participle, past
  • crew UK, past, participle

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

What does crow mean?

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

noun

  1. 1

    A bird, usually black, of the genus Corvus, having a strong conical beak, with projecting bristles; it has a harsh, croaking call.

  2. 2

    Any of various dark-coloured nymphalid butterflies of the genus Euploea.

  3. 3

    A bar of iron with a beak, crook or claw; a bar of iron used as a lever; a crowbar.

  4. 4

    archaicslangSomeone who keeps watch while their associates commit a crime; a lookout.

  5. 5

    A gangplank (corvus) used by the Ancient Roman navy to board enemy ships.

  6. 6

    The mesentery of an animal.

  7. 7

    derogatoryAn ill-tempered and obstinate woman, or one who otherwise has features resembling the bird; a harpy.

  8. 8

    offensiveslangA black person.

  9. 9

    The cry or call of a rooster or a cockerel, especially as heard at sunrise.

  10. 10

    Alternative spelling of cro (“marijuana”).

adjective

  1. 1

    Dark black, the color of a crow; crow-black.

verb

  1. 1

    To use a crowbar, wedge, or other implement to attempt to open a surface by leveraging force on the opposite end of the tool to pry off the connection between the two surfaces.

    If you wanna get inside, you're gonna have to crow open that door.

  2. 2

    To make the shrill sound characteristic of a rooster; to make a sound in this manner, either in gaiety, joy, pleasure, or defiance.

  3. 3

    To shout in exultation or defiance; to brag.

    He’s been crowing all day about winning the game of cards.

  4. 4

    To test the reed of a double reed instrument by placing the reed alone in the mouth and blowing it.

noun

as Crow
  1. 1

    A member of a Native American tribe of southern Montana.

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

Crow in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchcorneille, corbeau (any bird of the genus Corvus), pied-de-biche (bar of iron), chant (cry of the rooster), chanter (to make the sound of a rooster)
GermanKrähe, Krähenvogel (any bird of the genus Corvus), Brecheisen, Nageleisen, Brechstange, Kuhfuß (bar of iron)
Portuguesegralha-preta, corvo (any bird of the genus Corvus), pé de cabra (bar of iron), canto (cry of the rooster), cantar (to make the sound of a rooster)
Spanishcorneja, cuervo (any bird of the genus Corvus), palanca (bar of iron), cacareo (cry of the rooster), cacarear (to make the sound of a rooster)

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 crow come from?

From Middle English crowe, from Old English crāwe, from Proto-West Germanic *krāā, from Proto-Germanic *krēǭ (compare West Frisian krie, Dutch kraai, German Krähe), from *krēaną (“to crow”). See below. The verb is a back-formation from crowbar.

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

What to look up after crow