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crush

/kɹʌʃ/noun, verb

crush is spelled C-R-U-S-H: 5 letters and one syllable. It appears 15 times per million words in written English, the 5,407th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, crush means “A violent collision or compression; a crash; destruction; ruin” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of crush is crushes.

How many letters and syllables are in crush?

Letters5: C-R-U-S-H
Syllables1 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing15 times per million words; the 5,407th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search

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).

How common is crush?

Crush appears 15 times per million words in written English, the 5,407th 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 crush?

  • /kɹʌʃ/

Crush 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-crush.ogg, EN-AU_ck1_crush.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Forms of crush

  • crushes plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • crushing participle, present
  • crushed participle, past

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

What does crush mean?

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

noun

  1. 1

    A violent collision or compression; a crash; destruction; ruin.

  2. 2

    Violent pressure, as of a moving crowd.

  3. 3

    A violent crowding.

  4. 4

    A crowd that produces uncomfortable pressure.

    a crush at a reception

  5. 5

    slangA group or gang.

  6. 6

    A crowd control barrier.

  7. 7

    A drink made by squeezing the juice out of fruit.

  8. 8

    informalAn infatuation with somebody one is not dating.

    I've had a huge crush on her since we met many years ago.

verb

  1. 1

    To press between two hard objects; to squeeze so as to alter the natural shape or integrity, or to force together into a mass.

    to crush grapes

  2. 2

    To reduce to fine particles by pounding or grinding.

    to crush quartz

  3. 3

    To overwhelm by pressure or weight.

    After the corruption scandal, the opposition crushed the ruling party in the elections

  4. 4

    colloquialTo do impressively well at (sports events; performances; interviews; etc.).

    They had a gig recently at Madison Square–totally crushed it!

  5. 5

    To oppress or grievously burden.

  6. 6

    To overcome completely; to subdue totally.

    The sultan's black guard crushed every resistance bloodily.

  7. 7

    To be or become broken down or in, or pressed into a smaller volume or area, by external weight or force.

    an eggshell crushes easily

  8. 8

    To feel infatuation or unrequited love.

    She's crushing on him.

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

Crush in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
GermanZusammenprall, Kollision, Zerschmetterung, Zerquetschung (violent collision or compression; crash…), Absperrung, Polizeigitter (crowd control barrier)
Portuguesechoque, colisão (violent collision or compression; crash…), paixonite, fraquinho, crush (love or infatuation or its object (often…), amassar (to press or bruise between two hard bodies)
Spanishaplastamiento (violent collision or compression; crash…), enamoramiento, flechazo, camote (love or infatuation or its object (often…), aplastar, destripar (to press or bruise between two hard bodies)
Frenchbarricade (crowd control barrier), béguin, amourette, faible, coup de cœur, kick (love or infatuation or its object (often…)

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 crush come from?

From Middle English cruschen (“to crush, smash, squeeze, squash”), from Old French croissir (“to crush”), from Late Latin *crusciō (“to crush”), from Frankish *krustijan (“to crush, squeeze, squash”), from Proto-Germanic *kreustaną (“to crush, grind, strike, smash”).

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

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