# crumb

> English word · Noun · IPA /kɹʌm/ · frequency rank #29,984

## Definitions
1. A small piece which breaks off from baked food (such as cake, biscuit or bread).
2. A small piece of any other solid substance.
3. A bit, small amount.
4. Ellipsis of crumb rubber.
5. The soft internal portion of bread, surrounded by crust.
6. A mixture of sugar, cocoa and milk, used to make industrial chocolate.
7. A nobody; a worthless person.
8. A body louse (Pediculus humanus).

## Etymology
From Middle English crome, cromme, crumme, crume, from Old English cruma (“crumb, fragment”), from Proto-Germanic *krumô, *krūmô (“fragment, crumb”), from Proto-Indo-European *grū-mo- (“something scraped together, lumber, junk; to claw, scratch”), from *ger- (“to turn, bend, twist, wind”). The b is unetymological, as in limb, appearing in the mid-15th century to match crumble and words like dumb, numb, thumb. Cognate with Dutch kruim (“crumb”), Low German Krome, Krume (“crumb”), German Krume (“crumb”), Danish krumme (“crumb”), Swedish dialectal krumma (“crumb”), Swedish inkråm (“crumbs, giblets”), Icelandic krumur (“crumb”), Latin grūmus (“a little heap”).

## Easily confused with
- **cum** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/crumb-vs-cum)
- **Cub** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/crumb-vs-cub)
- **Cruz** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/crumb-vs-cruz)
- **curb** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/crumb-vs-curb)
- **crux** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/crumb-vs-crux)
- **cums** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/crumb-vs-cums)
- **crush** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/crumb-vs-crush)
- **crust** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/crumb-vs-crust)
- **crump** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/crumb-vs-crump)
- **crumbs** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/crumb-vs-crumbs)
- **crummy** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/crumb-vs-crummy)
- **crumble** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/crumb-vs-crumble)
- **CRM** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/crm-vs-crumb)
- **cru** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/cru-vs-crumb)
- **club** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/club-vs-crumb)
- **crab** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/crab-vs-crumb)
- **comb** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/comb-vs-crumb)
- **crib** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/crib-vs-crumb)
- **cram** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/cram-vs-crumb)
- **chum** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/chum-vs-crumb)

## Common misspellings (8)
`ccrumb`, `crmub`, `crrumb`, `crubm`, `crumbb`, `crummb`, `curmb`, `rcumb`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/crumb