- cripple (n.)
- Old English crypel, related to cryppan "to crook, bend," from Proto-Germanic *krupilaz (cf. Old Frisian kreppel, Middle Dutch cropel, German krüppel, Old Norse kryppill). Possibly also related to Old English creopan "to creep" (creopere, literally "creeper," was another Old English word for "crippled person").
- cripple (v.)
- mid-13c., "to move slowly," from cripple (n.). Meaning "make a cripple of, lame" is from early 14c. Related: Crippled; crippling.