crusade
/kɹuˈseɪd/noun, verb
crusade is spelled C-R-U-S-A-D-E: 7 letters and 2 syllables. It appears 3.9 times per million words in written English, the 13,127th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, crusade means “Any of the Papally-endorsed military expeditions undertaken by the Christians of Latin Europe in the 11th to 13th centuries to reconquer the Levant…” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of crusade is crusades.
How many letters and syllables are in crusade?
| Letters | 7: C-R-U-S-A-D-E |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 3.9 times per million words; the 13,127th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none 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 crusade?
Crusade appears 3.9 times per million words in written English, the 13,127th 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 crusade?
- UK /kɹuːˈseɪd/
- US /kɹuˈseɪd/
- Australia /kɹʉːˈsæɪd/
Crusade has 2 syllables (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-crusade.ogg, LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-Crusade.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What rhymes with crusade?
The 12 most written words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as crusade from its last stressed vowel (/eɪd/):
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 crusade
- crusades plural, present, singular, he/she/it
- crusading participle, present
- crusaded participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does crusade mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
Any of the Papally-endorsed military expeditions undertaken by the Christians of Latin Europe in the 11th to 13th centuries to reconquer the Levant from the Muslims, as well as expeditions along the Baltic Sea and against the Cathars.
During the crusades, many Muslims and Christians and Jews were slaughtered.
- 2
Any war instigated and blessed by the Church for alleged religious ends, (especially) papal-sanctioned military campaigns against infidels or heretics.
- 3
A grand, concerted effort towards some purportedly worthy cause.
a crusade against drug abuse
- 4
datedA mass gathering in a political campaign or during a religious revival effort.
- 5
archaicA Portuguese coin; a crusado.
verb
- 1
To go on a military crusade.
- 2
To make a grand concerted effort toward some purportedly worthy cause.
He crusaded against similar injustices for the rest of his life.
noun
- 1
Any of a series of religious campaigns by Christian forces from the 11th to the 13th century, mostly to capture the Holy Land from the Muslims and Jews who inhabited it.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Crusade in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
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 crusade come from?
From French croisade, introduced into English (in the French spelling) by 1575. The modern spelling emerges c. 1760,. Middle French croisade is introduced in the 15th century, based on Spanish cruzada (late 14th century) and Old Occitan crozada (early 13th century), both reflecting Medieval Latin cruciāta, cruxiata, the feminine singular of the adjective cruciātus used as an abstract noun.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).