Crew

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /kɹuː/

Definitions

1. A group of people working together to complete a task or job ; the people who operate and manage a ship, aircraft, or spacecraft
2. A team collaborating on a specific activity or project ; a set of personnel responsible for handling the functions of a mode of transport
3. An organized collection of individuals cooperating towards a common goal ; the staff assigned to run and navigate a vehicle such as a plane or boat

Etymology: The modern sense of "a group working together" grew out of a military idea of reinforcement. In Old French, "creue" meant an increase or a reinforcement, especially fresh troops sent to bolster an army. It was the feminine past participle of "creistre," "to grow," itself from Latin "crescere," "to arise, grow." Middle English borrowed it as "crue," and the sense of a body of reinforcements gradually narrowed toward a body of people working together. The word's deeper origin may be surprising. Its likely ancestry is not Latin at all but Brythonic, the Celtic language family of Britain, and it may descend from a word related to Middle Welsh "creu," meaning a pigsty, hovel, or stockade. Scholars treat this Celtic link as probable rather than certain, so the Latin-French route is the firmly documented one, while the Welsh connection is a plausible competing origin.

Synonyms: team, group, squad, staff, unit

Antonyms: individual, lone, solitary