English

Verb

crase ‎(third-person singular simple present crases, present participle crasing, simple past and past participle crased)

1. (obsolete) To break in pieces; to crack.
   • Chaucer

     The pot was crased.

French

Noun

crase f ‎(plural crases)

1. (linguistics) crasis (contraction of a vowel at the end of a word with the start of the next word)

Anagrams

• âcres, caser, César, créas, races, sacre, sacré, scare

Portuguese

Pronunciation

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈkɾa.zi/
• (South Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈkɾa.ze/

Noun

crase f (plural crases)

1. Assimilation of sounds of two identical vowels, throughout the evolution process of a language. For instance, the Old Portuguese word door ‎(“pain”) has become, with time, the word dor ‎(“pain”). Compare elisão: elision.
2. (grammar) Name given to the process of the contraction of “a + a”, that is, a merge (assimilation) of the Portuguese preposition “a” [to, for] + the article “a” [the].

Usage notes

The article a has feminine gender in Portuguese. Accordingly, both it and the contraction à are used only before feminine words. The translation of à into English, hence, is to the. It is a common mistake for people to write "a" when they should write "à" and vice-versa.

Related terms

crasear – v.

craseado – adj.

à, às, ao, aos, àquele, àqueles, àquela, àquelas