Skip to the word

Added 10 October 2026

cripple

/ˈkɹɪp(ə)l/ adjective

In Latin: debilito Wiktionary

adjective Definition from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). Pronunciation from Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org. More about cripple at Wordnik → Where our words come from →

Crippled.

noun

A person who has severely impaired physical abilities because of deformation, injury, or amputation of parts of the body.
He returned from war a cripple.
A person who is severely impaired or deficient in some non-physical way.
A shortened wooden stud or brace used to construct the portion of a wall above a door or above and below a window.

verb

To make someone a cripple; to cause someone to become physically impaired.
The car bomb crippled five passers-by.
To damage seriously; to destroy.
My ambitions were crippled by a lack of money.
To cause severe and disabling damage; to make unable to function normally.

Origin

From Middle English cripel, crepel, crüpel, from Old English crypel (“crippled; a cripple”), from Proto-Germanic *krupilaz (“tending to crawl; a cripple”), from Proto-Indo-European *grewb- (“to bend, crouch, crawl”), from Proto-Indo-European *ger- (“to bend, twist”), equivalent to creep + -le. Cognate with Dutch kreupel, Low German Kröpel, German Krüppel, Old Norse kryppill.

From Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org (CC BY-SA)

Back to today's word