Standard Lemma guide

crony

noun · 4 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • General-American: /ˈkɹoʊni/
  • Received-Pronunciation: /ˈkɹəʊni/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • rhymes with -əʊni
  • CMU ARPABET: K R OW1 N IY0 Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

A close friend.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: informal

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: babber, billy, bredrin, bruv, bud, buddo, buddy, butty, chaver, china, chuck, chum, cock, cocker, cobber, compadre, comrade, companion, cove, crony, dawg, dude, duck, fam, fettler, friend, geez, geezer, gink, good old boy, homeskillet, homie, kith, lover, marrow, mate, matey, mucker, old bean, pal, pardner, peeps, punk, shag, sport, surry, tovarish, wantok

Antonyms: noncrony

2

noun

Meaning 2

A trusted companion or partner in a criminal organization.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: informal

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

An old woman; a crone.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: obsolete

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

4

noun

Meaning 4

a close friend who accompanies his buddies in their activities

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: buddy, brother, chum, pal, sidekick

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: friend

Narrower terms: cobber

History

Etymology

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

Across languages

Translations

39 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Basque: adixkide — close friend
  • Basque: lagun xahar — close friend
  • Bulgarian: близък приятел (blizǎk prijatel) — close friend
  • Chinese Mandarin: 挚友 (zhìyǒu) — close friend
  • Chinese Mandarin: 裙带 (qúndài) — close friend
  • Czech: kámoš — close friend
  • Czech: kumpán — close friend
  • Esperanto: kunulo — close friend
  • Estonian: semu — close friend
  • Finnish: kaveri — close friend
  • French: copain — close friend
  • French: copine — close friend
  • German: Freund — close friend
  • German: Kumpan — close friend
  • Hungarian: haver — close friend
  • Indonesian: kroni — close friend
  • Khmer: សន្ធានមិត្ត (sɑnthien mit) — close friend
  • Khmer: កល្យាណមិត្ត (kɑlyaan mit) — close friend
  • Korean: 옛벗 (yetbeot) — close friend
  • Malay: kuncu — close friend
  • Norwegian Bokmål: kompanjong — close friend
  • Norwegian Bokmål: kumpan — close friend
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: kompanjong — close friend
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: kumpan — close friend
  • Portuguese: parceiro — close friend
  • Romanian: prieten la cataramă — close friend
  • Russian: ко́реш (kóreš) — close friend
  • Spanish: amigote — close friend
  • Spanish: amigacho — close friend
  • Spanish: compinche — close friend
  • Swedish: stallbroder — close friend
  • Swedish: kumpan — close friend
  • Swedish: funtfadder — close friend
  • Swedish: vän — close friend
  • Czech: kumpán — partner in crime
  • Indonesian: kroni — partner in crime
  • Spanish: amigote — partner in crime
  • Spanish: amigacho — partner in crime
  • Spanish: compinche — partner in crime