Other forms: crescents
A crescent is the thin curved sliver shape of the moon when almost all of it is dark — wide in the middle, pointed at both ends. The new moon low over the rooftops, the white at the base of a fingernail, a croissant lying on a plate.
The word works as an adjective too: a crescent moon, a crescent of pale sand along the bay. It is the shape on the flags of Turkey and Pakistan and the symbol of Islam, which is why the Red Crescent stands beside the Red Cross. In British towns Crescent is a street name for a curved terrace of houses — Royal Crescent, Park Crescent — and the address tells you the road bends. Anything cut or bent into that shape earns the word: a crescent of onion sliding off the board, the pale crescent of an old scar. Crescent-shaped is the safe compound when you need an adjective before a longer noun.
1nouncrescentThe curved shape of the moon when only a thin sliver of it is lit.
“A crescent hung over the harbour, sharp as a hook.”
2nountaperingAny shape like that: a curve tapering to a point at each end.
“He arranged the melon in a crescent around the edge of the plate.”
3adjectiveshapedShaped like a thin curve with pointed ends.
“A crescent moon showed for a moment between the clouds.”
4nounstreetA curved street, or the row of houses along it (British).
“They live at number nine, Elgin Crescent.”
crescent is a shape.
Crescent comes from Latin crēscēns, 'growing', the participle of crēscō, to arise and thrive, from a Proto-Indo-European root *ḱer- meaning to grow. It named the waxing moon, the one getting bigger night after night, and English now hands the same word to the shrinking moon as well. That growing word also gives French croissant, so the pastry and the moon are one word with one shape.
Proto-Indo-European
*ḱer- (grow)
Middle English
cressaunt
English, today
crescent
Built from
From Middle English cressaunt. From Middle English cressaunt, from Anglo-Norman cressaunt and Old French creissant (“crescent of the moon”) (French croissant), from Latin crēscēns, present active participle of crēscō (“arise, thrive”), from Proto-Indo-European ḱer- (“to grow”). See Old Armenian սերիմ (“be born”) and սերեմ (“bring forth”), Ancient Greek κόρη (“girl”) and κούρος (“boy”), Latin creāre (“produce, create, bring forth”) and Ceres (“goddess of agriculture”). a doublet of croissant. The pronunciation with is a comparatively recent innovation due to the influence of words such as pheasant and present.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA