crèche

See also: creche and créché

English

A crèche (4) of Canada geese

Alternative forms

• creche

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from French crèche (“manger”), from Frankish *krippija, *kribbija, from Proto-Germanic *kribjǭ. Doublet of crib.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kɹɛʃ/, /kɹeɪʃ/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛʃ, -eɪʃ

Noun

crèche (plural crèches)

1. A representation of the nativity scene.
   • 2007, Clyde A. Bonar, Amen, I Say to You, page 666:

     At last, all was complete. The creche at Greccio looked like a new Bethlehem. The baby Jesus would be placed in the manger at midnight Mass.

2. (UK, Ireland) A day nursery.

   They drop their two-year-old off at the crèche in the morning before they go to work.

   • 2012, Roni Jay, The 10 Most Important Things You Can Do For Your Children:

     If you leave the kids in the creche for one morning on your week's holiday, and they are OK with that, then it's fine.

3. (historical) A hospital for orphaned infants; a foundling hospital.
   • 1894, Amos Griswold Warner, American Charities: A Study in Philanthropy and Economics, page 272:

     One road leads to desertion of the child in a convenient hallway; another to the creche of a foundling hospital; a third, to a boarding home, good or indifferent, for the child.

   • 1973, Wayne Dennis, Children of the Crèche, page 74:

     In line with this policy, a couple could adopt a Crèche foundling only if one or both of them were Roman Catholics.

4. (collective, marine biology) A group of young who stay together for protection.

Translations

nativity scene — see nativity scene

Further reading

• crèche on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• “crèche”, in Collins English Dictionary.
• “crèche, n.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
• “crèche”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
• “crèche”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.
• “crèche” in TheFreeDictionary.com, Huntingdon Valley, Pa.: Farlex, Inc., 2003–2024.

Anagrams

• Creech

Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from French crèche, from Middle French [Term?], from Old French creche, cresche (“manger, feeding trough”), from Late Latin cripia (“feeding trough”), from Frankish *krippija, *kribbija (“crib”), from Proto-Germanic *kribjǭ (“crib”), from Proto-Indo-European *g(')rībh- (“basket, net”). Doublet of kribbe.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /krɛʃ/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: crè‧che
• Homophone: crash

Noun

crèche f (plural crèches)

1. A day nursery for small children until age 3 in Belgium (Flanders) or age 4 in the Netherlands, when the children begin kleuterschool (nursery school/kindergarten) or, in the Netherlands, basisschool (primary school, which, in the Netherlands, begins at age 4 since August 1985, when kleuterschool was abolished and became a compulsory part of the primary school)

   Synonyms: kinderdagverblijf, (Flanders) kinderkribbe

Hypernyms

• kinderopvang

Descendants

• → Papiamentu: krèsh

French

Etymology

Inherited from Middle French [Term?], from Old French creche, cresche (“manger, feeding trough”), from Late Latin cripia (“feeding trough”), from Frankish *krippija, *kribbija (“crib”), from Proto-Germanic *kribjǭ (“crib”), from Proto-Indo-European *g(')rībh- (“basket, net”).

Cognate with Old High German krippa, kripja (“crib”) (German Krippe), Old English cribb, crybb (“crib”), Dutch kribbe (“crib”), Danish krybbe, Swedish krubba, Irish grib. More at crib

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kʁɛʃ/

• Audio (Paris):

  (file)

• Homophones: crèchent, crèches

Noun

crèche f (plural crèches)

1. crèche (the Nativity scene)
2. crèche (day nursery)

Descendants

• → English: creche
• → Portuguese: creche

Verb

crèche

1. inflection of crécher:
   1. first/third-person singular present indicative/subjunctive
   2. second-person singular imperative

Further reading

• “crèche”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.