Meaning

noun the act of bending low with the limbs close to the body

verb bend one's back forward from the waist on down

verb sit on one's heels

originFrom Middle English crouchen (“to bend, crouch”), variant of croken (“to bend, crook”), from crok (“crook, hook”), from Old Norse krókr (“hook”), from Proto-Germanic *krōkaz (“hook”), from Proto-Indo-European *gerg- (“wicker, bend”), from Proto-Indo-European *ger- (“to turn, wind, weave”). Compare Middle Dutch krōken (“to crook, curl”). More at crook.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 3.0