English Reference
Noun

crayon

n. countable
A1 Beginner US /ˈkɹeɪˌɑn/ UK /kɹˈeɪɒn/ cray·on UK spelling crayoned, crayons

n.a stick of colored wax or chalk used for drawing and coloring. You usually see children using them to color in books.

n.a stick of pigmented wax, charcoal, or chalk used for drawing or writing. Refers primarily to the wax-based variety used by children in modern contexts.


SIMPLE

The child used a red crayon to color the sun.

CONTEXTUAL

She handed the toddler a box of crayons and some paper to keep him busy during the flight.

COMPLEX

While professional artists occasionally use high-quality wax crayons for specific textures, the tool is most commonly associated with early childhood development and the primary education environment.


Borrowed from French crayon (“pencil”), from craie (“chalk”) + -on (“(diminutive)”), from Latin creta (“chalk, clay”), from crētus.

Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

This entry
Origin Latin creta
Level A1 · Beginner
Frequency Occasional
Updated