crane

See also: Crane, crâne, and crâné

English

A crane (bird).

A crane (mechanical).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kɹeɪn/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪn

Etymology 1

From Middle English crane, from Old English cran (“crane”), from Proto-West Germanic *kran, from Proto-Germanic *kranô (“crane”), from Proto-Indo-European *gerh₂- (“to cry hoarsely”).

Cognate with Scots cran (“crane”), Dutch kraan (“crane”), German Kran (“crane”). The mechanical devices are named from their likeness to the bird.

Noun

crane (plural cranes)

2. Any bird of the family Gruidae, large birds with long legs and a long neck which is extended during flight.
   • 1876, "Burmah" in the Encyclopædia Britannica, 9th ed., Vol. IV, p. 552:

     Aquatic birds of various kinds are very numerous, such as geese, darters (Flotus melanogaster), scissor-bills (Rhynchops nigra), adjutants (Leptoptilos argala), pelicans, cormorants, cranes (Grus antigone, in Burmese gyoja), whimbrels, plovers, and ibises.

3. (US, dialect) Ardea herodias, the great blue heron.
4. A mechanical lifting machine or device, often used for lifting heavy loads for industrial or construction purposes.
   • 2000, Bob Foster, Birdum or Bust!, Henley Beach, SA: Seaview Press, page 111:

     Large cranes were virtually non-existent in the areas I worked with this truck, so we jacked everything on and off[.]

5. An iron arm with horizontal motion, attached to the side or back of a fireplace for supporting kettles etc. over the fire.
6. A siphon, or bent pipe, for drawing liquors out of a cask.
7. (nautical) A forked post or projecting bracket to support spars, etc.; generally used in pairs.

Hyponyms

• Category:Gruidae on Wikimedia Commons.Wikimedia Commons

Derived terms

(Lifting devices):

• claw crane
• container crane
• craneable
• crane driver
• crane engine
• crane game
• crane locomotive
• crane operator
• gantry crane
• mobile crane
• overhead crane
• platform crane
• stacker crane
• steam crane
• Titan crane
• tower crane
• travelling crane, traveling crane

 

Birds

• Australian crane (Antigone rubicunda, syn. Grus rubicunda)
• Balearic crane
• black crested crane (Balearica pavonina)
• black crowned crane (Balearica pavonina)
• black-necked crane (Grus nigricollis)
• blue crane (Grus paradisea)
• common crane (Grus grus)
• crowned crane
• demoiselle crane (Grus virgo)
• Eurasian crane (Grus grus)
• grey crowned crane (Balearica regulorum)
• hooded crane (Grus monacha)
• Japanese crane (Grus japonensis)
• Manchurian crane (Grus japonensis)
• Numidian crane (Grus virgo)
• paper crane
• paradise crane (Grus paradisea)
• red-crowned crane (Grus japonensis)
• sandhill crane (Antigone canadensis)
• sarus crane (Antigone antigone, syn. Grus antigone)
• Siberian crane (Grus leucogeranus)
• Stanley crane (Grus paradisea)
• wattled crane (Grus carunculata)
• white-naped crane (Antigone vipio)
• whooping crane (Grus americana)

 

other terms (unsorted)

• aircrane
• crane fly
• cranefly (Tipulomorpha)
• cranelike
• craneman
• cranequin
• cranesbill
• craneway
• helicrane
• minicrane
• phantom crane fly
• skycrane
• trumpeter crane
• water crane
• white crane
• White Crane

 

Related terms

• cranberry, via German Low German Kraan (“crane”)

Descendants

• → Burmese: ကရိန်း (ka.rin:)
• → Hindi: क्रेन (kren)
• → Irish: craein
• → Japanese: クレーン (kurēn)
• → Korean: 크레인 (keurein)
• → Malay: kren
• → Maori: kareni
• → Tagalog: kreyn
• → Thai: เครน (kreen)

Translations

bird

• Afrikaans: kraanvoël (af)
• Albanian: kurrillë (sq) f, tojë (sq) f
• Arabic: كُرْكِيّ m (kurkiyy), غُرْنُوق m (ḡurnūq)
• Aragonese: gruda
• Armenian: կռունկ (hy) (kṙunk)
• Assamese: বগ (bog), বগলী (bogoli)
• Asturian: grúa (ast)
• Azerbaijani: durna (az)
• Bashkir: торна (torna)
• Basque: kurrilo
• Bats: წჵერაჼ (c̣'erã)
• Belarusian: жураве́ль m (žuravjélʹ)
• Bengali: সারস (bn) (śaroś)
• Bulgarian: жера́в (bg) m (žeráv)
• Catalan: grua (ca) f
• Chechen: гӏарагӏули (ğarağuli)
• Cherokee: ᎧᎾᏍᎦᏫ (kanasgawi)
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 鶴／鹤 (hok⁶)

  Mandarin: 鶴／鹤 (zh) (hè)

• Chukchi: ӄэтчаӈыр (qėtčaṇyr)
• Chuvash: тӑрна (tărna)
• Czech: jeřáb (cs) m
• Danish: trane (da) c
• Dutch: kraanvogel (nl) m, kraan (nl) m
• Egyptian: (ḏꜣt f)
• Esperanto: gruo (eo)
• Estonian: kurg (et)
• Faroese: trani m
• Finnish: kurki (fi)
• French: grue (fr) f
• Galician: grou (gl) m, grúa (gl) f
• Georgian: წერო (c̣ero)
• German: Kranich (de) m
• Greek: γερανός (el) m (geranós)

  Ancient: γέρανος m (géranos)

• Greenlandic: qarluutitoorsuaq
• Hebrew: עָגוּר (he) m (agúr)
• Hiligaynon: dogwak
• Hindi: सारस (hi) m (sāras)
• Hungarian: daru (hu)
• Icelandic: trana f
• Indonesian: bangau (id)
• Irish: grús m, corr f, corr mhóna f
• Italian: gru (it) f
• Japanese: 鶴 (ja) (つる, tsuru), ツル (ja) (tsuru)
• Jeju: 하기새 (hagisae)
• Kazakh: тырна (tyrna)
• Khmer: ក្រៀល (km) (kriəl)
• Komi-Permyak: тури (turi)
• Korean: 두루미 (ko) (durumi), 학(鶴) (ko) (hak)
• Kumyk: турна (turna)
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: قۆڵەنگ (qolleng)

• Kyrgyz: каркыра (karkıra)
• Latgalian: dzērve f
• Latin: grūs m or f
• Latvian: dzērve (lv) f
• Lithuanian: gervė (lt) f
• Louisiana Creole: gru
• Low German:

  German Low German: Kraan m, Kroon m, Kraun m

• Luhya: ekolongolo
• Macedonian: же́рав m (žérav)
• Malay: burung jenjang
• Maltese: għarnuq, grawwa f
• Manchu: ᠪᡠᠯᡝᡥᡝᠨ (bulehen)
• Manx: coar f
• Maori: kareni
• Mari:

  Eastern Mari: турня (turńa)

  Western Mari: тырня (tyrńa), тыртня (tyrtńa)

• Mi'kmaq: tmgwatignej anim
• Mingrelian: წერო (c̣ero)
• Mongolian:

  Cyrillic: тогоруу (mn) (togoruu)

  Mongolian: ᠲᠣᠭᠤᠷᠤᠤ (toɣuruu)

• Nahuatl: quetzalaztatl
• Nanticoke: ah!secque
• Navajo: dééł
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: trane (no) m or f

  Nynorsk: trane f

• Occitan: grua (oc) f
• Okinawan: 鶴 (ちる, chiru)
• Old English: cran m
• Old Prussian: gerwe
• Ottoman Turkish: طورنه (turna), كركی (kürki)
• Pashto: زاڼۍ f (zānnəi)
• Persian:

  Iranian Persian: دُرْنا (dornâ), کُلَنْگ (kolang) (archaic)

• Plautdietsch: Kraunkje n
• Polish: żuraw (pl) m
• Portuguese: grou (pt)
• Romanian: cocor (ro) m, grui (ro) m
• Russian: жура́вль (ru) m (žurávlʹ)
• Sanskrit: बक (sa) m (baka), सारस (sa) m (sārasa)
• Scottish Gaelic: corra-mhonaidh f
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: ждра̑л m, жѐра̄в m

  Roman: ždrȃl (sh) m, žèrāv (sh) m

• Shor: туруна (turuna)
• Slovak: žeriav m
• Slovene: žerjav (sl) m
• Sorbian:

  Lower Sorbian: žorawa f

• Southern Altai: турна (turna)
• Spanish: grulla (es) f, grúa (es) f (archaic)
• Svan: წა̈̄რუ̂ (c̣ǟrû), მჷყრო̄ნტ (məq̇rōnṭ)
• Swahili: korongo (sw)
• Swedish: trana (sv) c
• Tajik: турна (turna), куланг (kulang)
• Tamil: கொக்கு (ta) (kokku)
• Tatar: торна (tt) (torna)
• Telugu: కొంగ (te) (koṅga)
• Thai: กระเรียน (th) (grà-riian)
• Turkish: turna (tr)
• Udmurt: тури (turi)
• Ukrainian: жураве́ль m (žuravélʹ)
• Urdu: سارَس m (sāras)
• Uzbek: turna (uz)
• Vietnamese: sếu (vi) (鶮), hạc (vi) (鶴)
• Volapük: grud (vo), glulit (obsolete)
• Welsh: garan, crëyr m, crehyrod m pl
• Yakut: туруйа (turuya)
• Yoruba: wádòwádò

machinery

• Albanian: vinç (sq) m
• Arabic: رَافِعَة f (rāfiʕa)
• Armenian: վերամբարձ կռունկ (verambarj kṙunk)
• Azerbaijani: kran
• Basque: garabi (eu)
• Belarusian: кран m (kran), пад'ёмны кран m (padʺjómny kran)
• Bengali: কপিকল (bn) (kopikol)
• Bulgarian: кран (bg) (kran)
• Burmese: ကရိန်း (my) (ka.rin:), ဝန်ချီစက် (my) (wanhkyicak)
• Catalan: grua (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 起重機／起重机 (hei² cung⁵ gei¹)

  Mandarin: 吊車／吊车 (zh) (diàochē), 起重機／起重机 (zh) (qǐzhòngjī)

• Czech: jeřáb (cs) m
• Danish: kran (da) c
• Dutch: hijskraan (nl) m or f, kraan (nl) m or f, hefkraan (nl) m or f
• Esperanto: argano
• Estonian: kraana
• Finnish: nosturi (fi), nostokurki (fi)
• French: grue (fr) f
• Galician: guindastre (gl) m
• Georgian: ამწე (amc̣e), ამწეკრანი (amc̣eḳrani)
• German: Kran (de) m
• Greek: γερανός (el) m (geranós)
• Gujarati: ઊંટડો (ū̃ṭaḍo)
• Hebrew: עֲגוּרָן (he) m (agurán), מָנוֹף (he) m (manóf)
• Hindi: क्रेन m (kren)
• Hungarian: daru (hu)
• Icelandic: krani m
• Indonesian: katrol (id), kran (id)
• Irish: craein f
• Italian: gru (it) f
• Japanese: クレーン (ja) (kurēn), 起重機 (ja) (きじゅうき, kijūki)
• Kazakh: кран (kran)
• Khmer: រថស្ទូច (rŭət stuuc), ម៉ាស៊ីនស្ទូច (maasɨn stuuc), ត្រាក់ទ័រស្ទូច (traktɔə stuuc)
• Korean: 기중기(起重機) (ko) (gijunggi), 크레인 (ko) (keurein)
• Kyrgyz: кран (kran)
• Latin: tollēnō m, polyspaston n
• Latvian: celtnis m
• Lithuanian: kranas m
• Low German:

  German Low German: Kraan m, Kroon m

• Macedonian: кран m (kran)
• Malay: kren
• Maori: tokorangi
• Mongolian:

  Cyrillic: кран (mn) (kran), өргүүл (mn) (örgüül) (Inner Mongolia)

  Mongolian: ᠺᠷᠠᠨ (kran), ᠡᠷᠭᠦᠭᠦᠯ (ergügül)

• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: kran (no) m or f

  Nynorsk: kran f, krane m

• Ottoman Turkish: وینچ (vinç)
• Persian:

  Iranian Persian: جَرِّ ثَقیل (jarr-e sağil), جَرِ ثَقیل (jar-e sağil), جَرّ ثَقیل (jarr sağil), جَر ثَقیل (jar sağil)

• Polish: dźwig (pl) m, żuraw (pl) m
• Portuguese: guindaste (pt), grua (pt) f
• Romanian: macara (ro) f
• Russian: кран (ru) m (kran), подъёмный кран m (podʺjómnyj kran)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: ди̏залица f, кра̑н m

  Roman: dȉzalica (sh) f, krȃn (sh) m

• Slovak: žeriav m
• Slovene: žerjav (sl) m
• Spanish: grúa (es) f, güinche (es) m, guinche (es) m, titán (es) m, cabria (es) f, machina (es) f (used in ports), árgano m
• Swedish: kran (sv) c, lyftkran (sv) c
• Tagalog: grua, kreyn, tipol
• Tajik: кран (kran)
• Thai: เครน (th) (kreen), ปั้นจั่น (th) (bpân-jàn)
• Turkish: vinç (tr)
• Turkmen: kran
• Ukrainian: кран m (kran), двигу́н (uk) m (dvyhún), підйо́мний кран m (pidjómnyj kran), підійма́льний кран m (pidijmálʹnyj kran)
• Urdu: کْرین m (kren)
• Uyghur: كران (kran)
• Uzbek: kran (uz)
• Vietnamese: cần cẩu (vi)
• Volapük: krän (vo)

See also

• egret
• heron
• stork

Verb

crane (third-person singular simple present cranes, present participle craning, simple past and past participle craned)

1. (transitive, intransitive) To extend (one's neck).
   • 1879, George Eliot, Impressions of Theophrastus Such:

     and my bachelor's hearth is imbedded where by much craning of head and neck I can catch sight of a sycamore in the Square garden,

   • 1948 November and December, “By Broad Gauge to Cornwall”, in Railway Magazine, page 357:

     Didcot had one definite pleasure. We knew that little boys would be going up and down the platform singing out, "Banbury cakes! Banbury cakes!" And mother would crane out and buy some, just to encourage the crew.

   • 2008, Rivers Cuomo (lyrics and music), “Troublemaker”, in Weezer (Red Album), performed by Weezer:

     I'm gonna be a star and people will crane necks
     To get a glimpse of me and see if I am having sex

2. (transitive) To raise or lower with, or as if with, a crane.
   • 1693, William Bates, Sermons preach'd on Several Occasions:

     What engines, what instruments are used in craning up a soul, sunk below the centre, to the highest heavens.

   • 1619, Philip Massinger, Nathan Field, The Fatal Dowry:

     an upstart craned up to the height he has

   • 2024 January 24, Peter Plisner, “Rising to the University challenge”, in RAIL, number 1001, pages 60-61:

     Several overnight weekend possessions were required to crane in new bridges and various other parts of the buildings which were manufactured offsite.

3. (intransitive) To pull up before a jump.

Translations

to extend (one's neck)

• Arabic: رَفَعَ (ar) (rafaʕa)
• Bulgarian: протя́гам (bg) impf (protjágam), прото́чвам (bg) impf (protóčvam)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 伸長／伸长 (zh) (shēncháng), 探頭／探头 (zh) (tàntóu)

• Finnish: kurkottaa (kaulaansa)
• French: étirer (le cou)
• German: den Hals recken
• Italian: ^{(please verify)} allungare (il collo)
• Maori: whātinotino, whakaneinei, whātare, whātaretare, whakataretare
• Romanian: întinde (gâtul)
• Russian: вытя́гивать (ru) impf (vytjágivatʹ), вы́тянуть (ru) pf (výtjanutʹ)
• Spanish: estirar (el cuello)
• Swahili: songeza

Etymology 2

From Middle English crane, cranee, from Old French cran, from Medieval Latin crānium.

Noun

crane (plural cranes)

1. (obsolete) The cranium.

Etymology 3

Noun

crane (plural cranes)

1. Alternative form of cran (“measure of herrings”)

Anagrams

• recan, caren, Crean, Caren, rance, Carne, ancré, nacre, Rance, Nérac, nacré, Cerna, caner, crena

Middle English

Etymology 1

Inherited from Old English cran, *crana.

Alternative forms

• krane, cranne, craane, crone, craune

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈkraːn(ə)/, /kran/

Noun

crane (plural cranes)

2. crane (bird)
3. crane (machine)

Derived terms

• cranage

Descendants

• English: crane (see there for further descendants)
• Scots: cran
• ⇒ Yola: kraanberry, kraaneberry

References

• “crāne, n.(1).”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-07-07.

Etymology 2

Borrowed from Old French cran, from Medieval Latin crānium.

Alternative forms

• cranee

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kraːn/

Noun

crane

2. cranium

Descendants

• English: crane (obsolete)

References

• “crāne, n.(2).”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-07-07.