English
creel
Creel comes from Northern Middle English crele.
- Northern Middle Englishmoderncrele
- Englishearliest quotation 1850creel
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Earlier history uncertain.
Lineage
- Northern Middle Englishmoderncrele
- Englishearliest quotation 1850creel
Earliest quotation: 1850, Thomas Keightley, The Fairy Mythology: “For this purpose they got an old creel to…”
The story
Inherited from Northern Middle English crele, possibly from an Old French root *creille, variant of greille (compare French grille), from Latin crāticula.
Linked words
through Latin crāticula ‘grill, grating’
Today it means
noun A woven basket, especially a wicker basket.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Northern Middle English crele / creel