Bran or chaff; the outer covering of grain that separates when grain is threshed.
From Latin crusca meaning 'chaff' or 'bran.' This medieval Latin term for the husks of grain was used in Latin texts and entered English through agricultural and milling terminology.
Medieval millers and bakers knew exactly what crusca was—the waste that kept falling into your flour—and now scientists feed crusca to livestock as fiber-rich feed worth money, so medieval 'garbage' became valuable.
Complete word intelligence in one call. Free tier — 50 lookups/day.