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''crony'' ▫ᴱᴺ｜Definition｜1st｜20260715204347-00-⌔

crony - Wiktionary, the free dictionary

English

Noun

crony (plural cronies)

  • (informal, originally Cambridge University) A close friend.
    • ✤ Synonyms: see Thesaurus: friend
    • ✤ Antonym: noncrony
    • ✤ Rip now resumed his old walks and habits; he soon found many of his former cronies, though all rather the worse for the wear and tear of time; and preferred making friends among the rising generation, with whom he soon grew into great favour.1
  • (informal) A trusted companion or partner in a criminal organization.

Noun

crony (plural cronies)

  • (obsolete) An old woman; a crone.
    • ✤ Marry not an old crony.2

Pronunciation

  • (General American) IPA: /ˈkɹoʊni/
  • (Received Pronunciation) IPA: /ˈkɹəʊni/
  • Audio (Southern England): 🔊
  • Rhymes: -əʊni

Etymology 1

Coined between 1655 and 1665 from Ancient Greek χρόνιος (khrónios, “perennial, long-lasting”);3 see also chrono- (“time”). Initially Cambridge University slang,4567 in sense of “chum”, as “friend of long standing”,8 with illegal connotation later.9 Early spellings included chrony, as in 1665 diary by Samuel Pepys,8 supporting the Greek origin.

Etymology 2

Printed 2026-07-15.

(echo:: @ ⌗)

Footnotes

  1. 1819 June 23, Geoffrey Crayon [pseudonym; Washington Irving], “Rip Van Winkle”, in The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent., number I, New York, N.Y.: […] C[ornelius] S. Van Winkle, […], →OCLC, page 91: ↩

  2. 1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], The Anatomy of Melancholy: […], 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, →OCLC: ↩

  3. “crony”, in Merriam-Webster.com Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present. ↩

  4. “Crony” at Dictionary.com ↩

  5. “AskOxford: crony”, in ‎, 3 October 2008 (last accessed), archived from the original on 13 March 2020 ↩

  6. Richard Reeves, NS Essay – “Friendship is the invisible thread running through society.” April 19, 2004 ↩

  7. “Cronyism: The New Sleaze.” BBC News. December 23, 1998 ↩

  8. “The I’s Have It”, William Safire, The New York Times. October 30, 2005 ↩ ↩2

  9. “That Single Word.” Juan L. Mercado, The Ilocos Times, September 24, 2006 ↩

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Secondary

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