• (British) IPA: /ˈkɹɛz.n̩t/, /ˈkɹɛs.n̩t/
• (America) IPA: /ˈkɹɛs.n̩t/

crescent (plural crescents)

1. The figure of the moon as it appears in its first or last quarter, with concave and convex edges terminating in points.
2. Something shaped like a crescent, especially:
   1. A curved pastry.
   2. A curved street, often presenting a continuous façade, as of row houses.
3. (Islam) A representation of the symbol used by Islamic caliphates
4. (NZ) A crescent spanner.
5. (historical) Any of three orders of knighthood conferred upon foreigners to whom Turkey might be indebted for valuable services.
6. (heraldiccharge) The emblem of the waxing Moon with horns directed upward, when used in a coat of arms; often used as a mark of cadency to distinguish a second son and his descendants.
7. A crescentspot butterfly.

• French: croissant
• German: Mondsichel
• Italian: crescente, falce, mezzaluna
• Portuguese: crescente
• Russian: полуме́сяц
• Spanish: medialuna, creciente

• French: croissant
• German: Hörnchen, Croissant, (Unterfranken, Bavaria, Austria) Kipfel, (Unterfranken, Bavaria, Austria) Kipfl
• Italian: cornetto
• Portuguese: croissant
• Russian: рога́лик
• Spanish: medialuna (Latin America)

crescent (not comparable)

1. (dated, rare) marked by an increase; waxing, like the Moon.
   • 1835, Tennyson, “Locksley Hall”, Poems (Tennyson, 1842), Moxon, London (1842):

     O, I see the crescent promise of my spirit hath not set.

2. Shaped like a crescent.
   • 1667, John Milton, “Book 1”, in Paradise Lost. A Poem Written in Ten Books, London: Printed [by Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […] [a]nd by Robert Boulter […] [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], OCLC 228722708 ↗; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: The Text Exactly Reproduced from the First Edition of 1667: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, OCLC 230729554 ↗:

     Astarte, queen of heaven, with crescent horns.

• Italian: crescente
• Portuguese: crescente
• Russian: нараста́ющий

• Russian: серпови́дный

crescent (crescents, present participle crescenting; past and past participle crescented)

1. (transitive) To form into a crescent, or something resembling a crescent.
2. (transitive) To adorn with crescents.