What does crevassing mean?
"Crevassing" is the present participle and gerund of the verb "to crevasse", meaning to develop or become split by crevasses — the deep, vertical fissures that open in glaciers, ice sheets, and ice shelves as the ice moves and deforms. In glaciological writing, an icefall may be described as heavily crevassing where steep gradients stretch and fracture the ice; in mountaineering accounts, the word can also describe the act of picking a way across such broken ground. The term derives ultimately from French "crevasse", itself from an Old French word for a crack or fissure, which also gives English "crevice". Because it belongs to specialist registers, "crevassing" conveys precision rather than emotion: it evokes the raw, fractured surface of moving ice and the very real hazards that such fissures pose to anyone travelling on a glacier.
verbThe act of developing or forming crevasses, said especially of glaciers and ice sheets; also the practice of crossing such terrain by negotiating the cracks in glacial ice.
- (Of a glacier or ice mass) to develop or be marked by crevasses — the dominant sense, used in glaciology.
- To travel across or negotiate a crevasse field, chiefly in mountaineering contexts.
"The retreating glacier was crevassing rapidly as its snout thinned over the warming bedrock."
"As the ice shelf flexed with the tides, satellite imagery showed it crevassing along the suture zone."
"Roped together for safety, the team moved carefully through ground that was visibly crevassing under the summer melt."
When a glacier 'crevasses', it is literally tearing itself apart from the inside — and mountaineers rope up precisely because of it.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of crevassing
The verb "crevasse", whose -ing form is "crevassing", comes directly from the French noun "crevasse" meaning a crack or fissure, adopted into English in the early nineteenth century alongside the growth of Alpine exploration and glaciology. French "crevasse" traces back through Old French "crevace", from "crever" (to burst or break), ultimately from Latin "crepare", meaning to crack or creak. The same Latin root lies behind English words such as "crevice" and "raven" in its older senses of plundering, though "crevice" is the clearest surviving cognate.
Related word forms
How crevassing is actually used
"Crevassing" is technical vocabulary belonging mainly to glaciology and mountaineering literature; it appears rarely in general prose. As the -ing form of "crevasse", it functions both as a gerund and as a present participle.
Easily confused with crevassing
Creasing means folding or making a line in material such as paper or fabric, whereas crevassing refers to the opening of deep fissures in glacial ice.