custard [LME] A custard was originally a pie. Spelled crustarde or custarde, this was an open pie that contained meat or fruit in a spiced or sweetened sauce thickened with eggs. Over time the name gradually came to be applied to the sauce rather than the pie itself. The origin of the word was Old French crouste ‘a crust’ from Latin crusta ‘rind, shell, crust’, which is also where our word crust [ME] comes from.