A small piece or fragment of bread, cake, or other food that has broken off from a larger piece.
From Old English 'cruma,' related to Old High German 'chrumo.' The word originally meant a morsel of food and has maintained this meaning for over a thousand years, though it's now often used metaphorically to mean any small piece.
The word 'crumb' changed its sound over centuries—Old English 'cruma' became Middle English 'crumme' and then modern 'crumb' with that silent 'b.' That invisible letter is a fossil from when people actually pronounced it!
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