What does crap mean?
Crap is an informal English word with two core meanings: it can refer to excrement, or — far more commonly in everyday speech — to anything regarded as worthless, shoddy, or nonsensical, as in 'this film is crap' or 'stop talking crap.' It also serves as a loose term for clutter or personal belongings ('all this crap in my drawer'). Grammatically flexible, it functions mainly as an uncountable noun but also as a verb meaning to defecate, and its adjective derivative 'crappy' describes poor quality. Register matters: crap is mildly vulgar, widely tolerated in conversation, comedy, and journalism, yet out of place in formal contexts. It sits below stronger obscenities in offensiveness, which makes it a convenient outlet for irritation without causing serious offense. Etymologically it appeared in Middle English, likely from Dutch or Low German roots, and folk etymology falsely credits Victorian plumber Thomas Crapper with its origin.
Something of very poor quality; nonsense or rubbish.
"I can't believe I paid fifty dollars for this crap."
Excrement; feces.
"The dog left crap all over the lawn."
To defecate.
"The puppy crapped on the carpet again."
Rarely used in the plural except in the specific senses of individual instances of defecation ('two craps') or in reference to the unrelated dice game. In its main senses, crap functions as an uncountable mass noun.
"The raccoons had left craps all over the deck."
The word crap almost certainly does NOT come from Thomas Crapper, the Victorian plumber — that popular story is itself, fittingly, crap.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of crap
The noun crap entered Middle English, probably borrowed from Middle Dutch or Middle Low German words relating to chaff or residue, and by the sixteenth century it meant refuse or dregs before narrowing toward excrement in the nineteenth century. Its verb sense developed alongside the noun. A widespread myth attributes the word to Thomas Crapper, a Victorian plumbing manufacturer whose name appeared on toilets, but the word predates him substantially. The gambling term 'craps' derives separately via American French from an English phrase about a losing dice roll, making it an unrelated coincidence of sound rather than a true cognate.
Related word forms
How crap is actually used
Crap is informal to mildly vulgar: acceptable in casual conversation and most media, but avoided in formal writing and professional settings. It is considerably milder than stronger obscenities, making it a common middle-ground expression of frustration. The 'stuff/belongings' sense is especially common informally.
Easily confused with crap
Craps is the casino dice game, derived from the French 'crabs' for the losing roll, whereas crap in everyday use refers to excrement or rubbish — the two words have different etymological sources.