Craven

How to spell craven

6 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce craven

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does craven mean?

1. adjectiveShowing a complete lack of courage; contemptibly cowardly.

Craven in a sentence

• The manager made a craven decision to blame his junior staff for the loss.

• Critics described the apology as a craven attempt to avoid responsibility.

Where does craven come from?

Language of origin: French

Craven comes from the Middle English form cravant or cravante, meaning 'defeated' or 'overcome', which entered English in the 1200s. The most widely accepted source is the Old French cravante, a past participle of cravanter meaning 'to crush, overwhelm or strike down', which traces back to the Latin crepare, 'to crack, break or burst apart'. The original sense in English described someone beaten in battle who cried for mercy rather than fighting on, and from that humiliating surrender the meaning narrowed to its modern sense of contemptible cowardice. The final letter changed over the centuries from the older spelling in -ant or -aunt to the present -en, perhaps by analogy with words like 'shaven' and 'graven'. That altered ending is the chief spelling trap today, since the word looks as if it should end in -on or -an. The exact route remains a little uncertain, so the Latin link, while probable, is not entirely settled.

How the word is built

• craven (single root; from Middle English cravant 'defeated, overcome', no separable prefix or suffix in modern English)