Cron

name, noun

name, noun ·1 syllable ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A scheduler or timer that automatically starts a job, program, task. uncountable
Proper Noun
  1. 1
    A surname.

Etymology

Etymology 1

From chrono-, from Ancient Greek χρόνος (khrónos, “time”). Originating as the name of a specific program, but since generalized to analogous ones.

Etymology 2

* As a Scottish surname, variant of Crone, itself shortened from McCrone, from Scottish Gaelic Mac Cróin (“son of the swarthy one”), from crón (“swarthy”). * As a German, Jewish, and Swedish surname, Americanized/variant of Kron. * As a French surname, from the regional word crone (“water hole”). * Also as a French surname, from Picard Old French cron (“bent, curved”), itself probably a Germanic borrowing akin to Proto-Germanic *krumpaz or a similar variant. * As a Breton surname, from kronn (“round, rounded”), from Proto-Brythonic *krunn.

Related phrases

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.