crista

From Latin crista. Doublet of crest.

• enPR: krĭsˈtə, IPA^(key): /ˈkɹɪstə/
• Hyphenation: cris‧ta

crista (plural cristae or (obsolete) cristæ)

1. (cytology) Any of the internal compartments formed by the inner membrane of a mitochondrion, where many chemical reactions take place.
2. (dentistry) A dental crest.
3. (botany) A crest or terminal shaft.
   • 1805, Charles Dietrich Eberhard König, ‎John Sims (joint ed.), Annals of Botany (volume 1, page 292)

     […] a crista of fine hairs, between the two reddish, rounded knobs or stigmas […]

• crista cutis

• TRIACs, artics, racist, scairt, triacs, tsaric

• cresta

From Old Galician-Portuguese cresta, crista, from Latin crista.

• IPA^(key): /ˈkɾista̝/

crista f (plural cristas)

1. crest
2. comb, tuft (of animals)
3. ridge
4. (botany) hydropiper (Polygonum hydropiper)
5. (botany) lady's thumb (Persicaria maculosa)

   Synonym: crista de galo

6. rim

• Ernesto Xosé González Seoane, María Álvarez de la Granja, Ana Isabel Boullón Agrelo (2006–2022) “cresta”, in Dicionario de Dicionarios do galego medieval (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Ernesto Xosé González Seoane, María Álvarez de la Granja, Ana Isabel Boullón Agrelo (2006–2022) “crista”, in Dicionario de Dicionarios do galego medieval (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Xavier Varela Barreiro, Xavier Gómez Guinovart (2006–2018) “crista”, in Corpus Xelmírez - Corpus lingüístico da Galicia medieval (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Antón Luís Santamarina Fernández, editor (2006–2013), “crista”, in Dicionario de Dicionarios da lingua galega [Dictionary of Dictionaries of the Galician language] (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Antón Luís Santamarina Fernández, Ernesto Xosé González Seoane, María Álvarez de la Granja, editors (2003–2018), “crista”, in Tesouro informatizado da lingua galega (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Rosario Álvarez Blanco, editor (2014–2024), “crista”, in Tesouro do léxico patrimonial galego e portugués (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega, →ISSN

From Proto-Indo-European *(s)ker- (“to turn, bend”). Cognate with crinis (“hair”), crispus (“curly”). Compare Ancient Greek κόρση (kórsē, “temple (anatomy)”).

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [ˈkrɪs.ta]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [ˈkris.t̪a]

crista f (genitive cristae); first declension

1. (of a helmet) the crest, the plume

   Synonym: iuba

   Crista galeae.

   The plume of a helmet.

   Galea decora comanti cristae.

   An helmet decorated with a plumed crest.

2. the comb or tuft on the head of animals (most frequently of a rooster or a cock)

   Illi surgunt cristae.

   He carries his head high.

   Crista galli.

   The comb of a rooster.

3. the tuft of leaves on plants

   Crista foliorum.

   The tuft of the leaves.

4. (anatomy) the clitoris

   Synonym: landica

First-declension noun.

• cristula

• cristātus

• Eastern Romance:
  • Aromanian: creastã
  • Megleno-Romanian: creastă
  • Romanian: creastă
• Italian: cresta
• → Old English: cræsta
• Old French: creste
  • French: crête
  • Walloon: cresse
  • → Middle English: creste
    • English: crest
    • Scots: creest, crest
• Old Occitan:
  • Catalan: cresta
  • Occitan: cresta
• Old Galician-Portuguese: crista, cresta
  • Galician: crista
  • Portuguese: crista
• Old Spanish:
  • Spanish: cresta
• Rhaeto-Romance:
  • Friulian: creste
  • Romansch: cresta
• Sicilian: crista
• Venetan: gresta
• → Albanian: kreshtë
• → English: crista
• → Spanish: crista

• lophos

• “crista”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “crista”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• "crista", in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• crista in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• “crista”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper’s Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “crista”, in William Smith et al., editor (1890), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, London: William Wayte. G. E. Marindin

From Old Galician-Portuguese crista, cresta, from Latin crista.

• Rhymes: (Brazil) -istɐ, (Portugal, Rio de Janeiro) -iʃtɐ
• Hyphenation: cris‧ta

crista f (plural cristas)

1. crest
2. ridge
3. mohawk (hairstyle)

Borrowed from Latin crista. See also the inherited doublet cresta.

• IPA^(key): /ˈkɾista/ [ˈkɾis.t̪a]
• Rhymes: -ista
• Syllabification: cris‧ta

crista f (plural cristas)

1. (heraldry) crest (of a helmet)

   Synonyms: crestón, cresta

• “crista”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 10 December 2024