Etymology: Origin uncertain, and perhaps reflecting several words of distinct origin. Probably partly < Anglo-Norman chrape rubbish, waste (13th cent.), crappe chaff (c1285) and Middle French crape grime, filth (1393 in a text from Paris; rare), crappe grime, filth (15th cent.; compare French crappe silt, dregs, lees, filth, rubbish (1676)), probably ultimately of Germanic origin, perhaps a borrowing < a reflex of the Germanic base of scrape v. The word is rare in standard French, but is widespread in north-eastern regional varieties, as is the derived verb craper to dirty, to cover with filth or rubbish. (This continental evidence makes less likely the suggestion that the word is a variant of Anglo-Norman croppe ( < crop n.), which is also recorded in the sense ‘chaff’.) Compare also post-classical Latin crappa (also grapa , scrappa ) chaff, grain trodden under feet in the barn, and mingled with the straw and dust (13th cent. in British sources; also in continental sources), crapinum the smaller chaff (12th cent.). In some uses (compare especially senses A. 2 and A. 3) perhaps either borrowed from or influenced by Middle Dutch crappe piece of fried meat (14th cent.), early modern Dutch krappe piece cut or shaved off, piece of meat, also cake, pastry (in which sense perhaps compare German Krapfen ), in later regional use also scrap of cloth, residue of fried fat, crackling. However, the Dutch word is itself of unknown origin (and it is quite likely that the range of meanings reflects a number of words of different origins), and it is also possible that the English word may have influenced the Dutch one. There is also some overlap in meaning (especially in senses A. 2 and A. 3) with scrap n.¹ (which is ultimately related to the possible Germanic base of French crape), and it is likely that the two words have influenced one another.Notes on specific senses. It is unclear whether the plural form gropys in the following quot. shows the same word (in sense A. 1: compare quot. ?a1475 at sense A. 1): ▸ 1440 Promptorium Parvulorum (Harl. 221) 100 Crappe, or gropys of corne, acus.It is possible that sense A. 4 could show a different word, as it seems not to be closely connected to the other senses (see note at that sense and compare, e.g., crop n. 3); on the other hand, its negative connotations might have contributed to the emergence of branch A. II. With the semantic development in sense A. 5 compare similarly dust n.¹ 6. The form crop occurring in similar sources in the same meaning probably shows a use of crop n. rather than a variant of this word. Branch A. II. seems a natural extension from the earlier senses, centring on a common notion of rejected or left matter, such as residue, dregs, dust, etc., especially in view of the range of meanings in French. In the source quoted in quot. 1846 at sense A. 7a the compound crapping ken also occurs (see quot. 1846 at crapping n.), with ken n.² as the second element. This is paralleled in earlier slang dictionaries by cropping ken or croppin ken , which occurs earliest (as croppinken ) in R. Head Canting Acad. (1673); it is unclear whether these show an earlier name (of distinct origin) for a privy (of which later crapping ken is likely therefore be an alteration) or whether they ultimately show a variant of this word, and hence imply much earlier currency both of crap v.² and of crap n.¹ in sense A. 7a. Another suggestion of earlier currency in this sense is given by the following description of a word game:1799 H. L. Piozzi Diary 12 June in Thraliana (1942) II. 999 One would not think it possible (yet so it is) that no fewer than 40 Words two of them of two Syllables each are comprized in the Monosyllable Scrape Anagrammatically & Metagrammatically—as thus. Scrap. Sap..Pear. Parse. There is another too—Which I will not write down.

Etymology: < Dutch krap, Middle Dutch crappe, whence also German and Swedish krapp, Danish krap, French crappe (1513 from Lille in Godefroy).

Etymology: Probably < crap v.¹ N.E.D. (1893) etymologizes this word < ‘Dutch krap cramp, clamp, clasp’; however, the various krap homonyms recorded in Woordenboek der Nederlandse Taal do not include a relevant modern Dutch sense. The most likely candidate for the Dutch etymon suggested in N.E.D. is krap clasp with which a book is fastened (1740 as krappe ), handle on a door or window (first half of the 19th cent.; already in late Middle Dutch as crappe hook), a by-form (with loss of nasal) of krampe cramp n.², and hence cognate with the West Germanic nouns cited at that entry.

Etymology: Variant of craps n.

Etymology: Origin uncertain. Perhaps compare earlier crop v. Compare later crap n.³It is not clear whether the following is an instance of this word used in an expression of surprise (analogously with hang v. 3d), or an instance of crop v. used in a similar manner, or of some other word:1760 S. Foote Minor i. 44 Crop me, but this Squintum has turn'd her brains.

Etymology: < crap n.¹ (compare branch II. at that entry). Compare earlier crapping n. and see discussion at that entry.

Etymology: < crap n.⁴

Etymology: < crap n.¹