crude
n. uncountablen. natural oil that comes from the ground before it is cleaned or turned into fuel. It is the raw material used to make petrol and plastic.
n. unrefined petroleum in its natural state as extracted from the earth. Often used as a shorthand in industrial and financial contexts for crude oil.
The price of crude rose sharply this morning.
Refineries process crude into various products including gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel to meet global energy demands.
Economists closely monitor the daily fluctuations in the price of crude, as energy costs significantly influence the production and transportation expenses of almost every other global commodity.
From Middle English crude, borrowed from Latin crūdus (“raw, bloody, uncooked, undigested, crude”). Doublet of crudo, from Italian. Cognate with Old English hrēaw (“raw, uncooked”) via Proto-Indo-European *krewh₂- (“raw blood”); more at raw.