crier (French)
Where does "crier" come from?
French crier is inherited through Middle French crier from Old French cri(d)er, which in turn comes from Vulgar Latin *crītāre. Across these stages, the core idea stayed remarkably stable: the verb meant to cry out or shout, with French also developing the sense “to creak.”
Full etymology tree
- crier (French), 'to cry out'
- inherited from crier (Middle French)
- inherited from crider (Old French)
- inherited from *crītāre (Latin), 'to cry out, shriek'
- derived from quirītāre (Latin)
- inherited from *crītāre (Latin), 'to cry out, shriek'
- inherited from crider (Old French)
- inherited from crier (Middle French)
Ancestors
- crier (Old French)
Descendants and derived words
- crier au loup (French)
- crier comme un putois (French)
- crier dans le désert (French)
- crier famine (French)
- crier grâce (French)
- crier haro sur le baudet (French)
- crier pour la pirogue (French)
- crier sur les toits (French)
- crier victoire (French)
- sans crier gare (French)
Updated March 2026
Etymology data from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · About Miraris