Other forms: crones
Crone is a story word for an ugly old woman. The old crone, a crone in the woods, called her a crone.
It belongs to fairy tales, where the figure is a warning about old women living alone, and using it about a real person is an insult of a very old kind. Some modern writers have tried to reclaim it for an older woman's wisdom, with mixed success.
1nouncroneAn ugly old woman, in stories.
“In the fairy tale, an old crone offers the princess a poisoned apple.”
crone is an old insult.
Anglo-Norman carogne meant carrion or a worn-out animal, and the insult grew from that.
Anglo-Norman
carogne
Middle English
crone
English, today
crone
From Middle English crone, from Anglo-Norman carogne (compare central Old French charogne literally “carrion, carcass, old sheep, hag”, whence modern French charogne). a doublet of carrion.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA