crumble

Meanings

Verb

• To fall apart; to disintegrate.
• To break into crumbs.
• To mix (ingredients such as flour and butter) in such a way as to form crumbs.

Noun

• A dessert of British origin containing stewed fruit topped with a crumbly mixture of fat, flour, and sugar.

Origin

• From earlier crymble, crimble, from Middle English *crymblen, kremelen, from Old English *crymlan, from *crymel, diminutive of Old English cruma ("crumb"), equivalent to crumb + -le. Compare Dutch kruimelen, German Low German krömmeln, German Krümel, diminutive of German Krume, German krümeln, krümmeln. Alteration of vowel due to analogy with crumb.