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PlainSpell

crunch

/kɹʌnt͡ʃ/verb, noun

crunch is spelled C-R-U-N-C-H: 6 letters and one syllable. It appears 4.6 times per million words in written English, the 11,870th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a verb, crunch means “To crush something, especially food, with a noisy crackling sound” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).

How many letters and syllables are in crunch?

Letters6: C-R-U-N-C-H
Syllables1 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing4.6 times per million words; the 11,870th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
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 crunch?

Crunch appears 4.6 times per million words in written English, the 11,870th 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 crunch?

  • US /kɹʌnt͡ʃ/
  • Australia /kɹɐnt͡ʃ/
  • /kɹʊnt͡ʃ/

Crunch 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-crunch.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

What rhymes with crunch?

2 words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as crunch from its last stressed vowel (/ʌntʃ/):

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 crunch

  • crunches present, singular, he/she/it, plural
  • crunching participle, present
  • crunched participle, past

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

What does crunch mean?

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

verb

  1. 1

    To crush something, especially food, with a noisy crackling sound.

    When I came home, Susan was watching TV with her feet up on the couch, crunching a piece of celery.

  2. 2

    To be crushed with a noisy crackling sound.

    Beetles crunched beneath the men's heavy boots as they worked.

  3. 3

    slangTo calculate or otherwise process (e.g. to crunch numbers: to perform mathematical calculations). Presumably from the sound made by mechanical calculators.

    That metadata makes it much easier for the search engine to crunch the data for queries.

  4. 4

    To grind or press with violence and noise.

  5. 5

    To emit a grinding or crunching noise.

  6. 6

    To cause the gears to emit a crunching sound by releasing the clutch before the gears are properly synchronised.

  7. 7

    To compress (data) using a particular algorithm, so that it can be restored by decrunching.

  8. 8

    slangTo make employees work overtime in order to meet a deadline in the development of a project.

noun

  1. 1

    Crunchiness.

    I like the crunch of those crackers.

  2. 2

    A small piece created by crushing; a piece of material with a friable or crunchy texture.

  3. 3

    A dessert consisting of a crunchy topping with fruit underneath.

  4. 4

    A critical moment or event.

  5. 5

    A problem that leads to a crisis.

  6. 6

    slangThe overtime work required to catch up and finish a project, usually in the final weeks of development before release.

  7. 7

    slangA shortage.

  8. 8

    A form of abdominal exercise, based on a sit-up but in which the lower back remains in contact with the floor.

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

Crunch in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchcroquer (to crush something with a noisy crackling sound), compiler (slang: to calculate or otherwise process), croquement, craquement (a noisy crackling sound), crunch (form of abdominal exercise based on a sit-up)
Germanzermalmen (to crush something with a noisy crackling sound), kalkulieren, durchrechnen (slang: to calculate or otherwise process), knirschen, knuspern (to be crushed with a noisy crackling sound), Krise (critical moment or event)
Spanishronzar, crujir (to crush something with a noisy crackling sound), crujido (a noisy crackling sound), hacer trabajar contra el reloj (to make employees work overtime in order to…)

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 crunch come from?

From earlier craunch, cranch, of imitative origin.

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

What to look up after crunch