PIE base ‘raw flesh’.
Other derivatives include crude, raw, creosote (from Greek kreas ‘flesh’ and sōtēr ‘preserver’, with reference to its antiseptic properties), and ecru, from French écru ‘raw, unbleached’.
[Pokorny *kreu-1, kreuǝ- : krū- ; kreus-, krus- ‘blood, raw flesh; ice, crust’, pp. 621–622.]