"G" Word Origins

granger

Latin

From Anglo-Norman French granger, someone who worked at a grange (a farmhouse with barns), ultimately from Latin granum, "grain."

granite

Latin

From Italian granito, "granite," literally "grained," from grano, "grain," from Latin granum.

grannam

Origin

Variant of grandam with assimilatory loss of d. Compare granfer.

granny

Origin

A diminutive built from "gran" plus the suffix "-y."

granola

Italian · 1880

Originally a trademarked cereal name from the 1880s (first called "Granula"), likely from Italian grano, "grain."

grant

Latin

From Anglo-Norman granter, ultimately tracing back to Latin credere, "to believe" or "trust" — the same root as "credit" and "guarantee."

grantee

Origin

From Middle English grauntees pl, from Old French granté, participle of granter, equivalent to grant + -ee.

Grantham

Old English

From an Old English personal name Granta, or from grand ("gravel") and hām ("homestead").

Grants

Origin

From Grant + -s. The city was named after three brothers, Angus A., John R. and Lewis A. Grant, who were awarded a contract to build a section of the Atlantic and Pacific Railroad through the region. Their camp was first called Grants Camp, then Grants Station, and finally Grants.

granular

Origin

From Late Latin grānulum (“granule, little grain”), diminutive of Latin grānum (“grain, seed”), + -ar. By surface analysis, granule + -ar. Compare French granulaire.

granum

Origin

From the late 19th c., from Latin grānum (“grain, seed or small kernel”). Doublet of corn, grain, gram, and grao.

Granville

Origin

Of Norman baronial origin, from Grainville in Normandy, meaning "Guarin's town."

grape

Old French

From Old French grappe, "bunch of grapes," originally meaning "hook," since grapes were harvested with a hooked tool. It displaced the earlier Old English word "wine-berry."

grapefruit

Origin

Likely from "grape" plus "fruit," referring to the way the fruit grows in cluster-like bunches on the tree, similar to grapes.

Grapes

Origin

Perhaps a habitational surname from a house bearing the sign of a bunch of grapes.

grapevine

Origin

A straightforward compound of "grape" and "vine."

graph

Origin · 1870

A shortened form of "graphic formula," first used in this sense in the late 1870s.

grapheme

Origin

From Ancient Greek γράφω (gráphō, “write”) + -eme. Doublet of -gram.

graphic

Latin

From Greek graphikos, "relating to drawing or writing," from graphein, "to write" or "scratch" — the same root behind "carve."

graphite

German · 1789

Coined in German (Graphit) in 1789 from Greek graphein, "to write," because of its use in pencils.

grapnel

Origin

From Middle English grapnel, from Anglo-Norman, from Old French grapil, grapin. Compare modern French grappin.

grappa

Italian

Borrowed from Italian grappa; related to the English word "grape".

grapple

Old English

From Old English/Middle English roots meaning "to seize" — the same family as "grab" and "grasp".

grappler

Origin

From grapple + -er.

Gras

French

From French gras ("fat"), originally a nickname for a stout person.

grasp

Middle English

From Middle English graspen, related to "grab" and ultimately to a very old root meaning "to seize".

grass

Old English

From Old English græs, an ancient word going back to a root meaning "to grow" — related to "green" and "grow".

grasshop

Origin

Back-formation from grasshopper.

grasshopper

Origin

From grass + hopper — literally "one that hops in the grass".

grassland

Origin

From grass + land.

grassroots

Origin

From grass + roots — the image of roots at the base of a plant, i.e. the ordinary base of society.

grassy

Origin

From grass + -y.

grate

Medieval Latin

From Medieval Latin crata / Latin cratis, meaning a wickerwork frame or hurdle.

grateful

Latin

From an older sense of "grate" meaning pleasing or agreeable, from Latin grātus ("pleasing, thankful") + -ful.

grater

Origin

From grate + -er, "the thing that grates".

gratification

Latin

From Latin grātificātiō, from grātificārī ("to do a favor, to please"), from grātus ("pleasing").

gratify

Origin

From French gratifier, from Latin grātificō (“to do a favor to, oblige, please, gratify”), from grātus (“kind, pleasing”) + faciō (“to make”).

gratin

French

Borrowed from French gratin, from gratter ("to scrape").

grating

Origin

From grat(e) + -ing.

gratis

Latin

Borrowed from Latin grātīs, a shortened form of grātiīs ("out of kindness, for nothing"), from grātus ("pleasing, thankful").

gratitude

Medieval Latin

From French gratitude, from Medieval Latin grātitūdō ("thankfulness"), from Latin grātus ("thankful").

gratuitous

Latin

From Latin grātuītus ("free, unearned"), from grātia ("favor"), from grātus ("pleasing").

gratuity

Latin

Via French gratuité from medieval Latin gratuitas, 'gift', from Latin gratus, 'pleasing, thankful'.

graupel

Origin

Borrowed from German Graupel(wetter) (literally “graupel (weather)”). Graupel is a back-formation from graupeln (“to hail (with soft hailstones)”) + -el (diminutive suffix); and graupeln is from Graupe (“hulled grain, pearl barley”) (ultimately from Proto-Slavic *krūpà (“grainy substance; groats; hail”) and Proto-Indo-European *krewp-) + -eln (suffix forming verbs, often with a diminutive or frequentative sense).

gravamen

Origin

Learned borrowing from Late Latin gravāmen (“physical inconvenience”) and Medieval Latin gravāmen (“grievance”), from Latin gravāre + -men (suffix forming neuter nouns of the third declension). Gravāre is the present active infinitive of gravō (“to burden, weigh down; to oppress”), from gravis (“heavy; grave, serious; hard, troublesome”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *gʷreh₂- (“heavy”)) + -ō (suffix forming regular first-conjugation verbs). The plural form gravamina is derived from Late Latin gravāmina.

grave

Latin

From Old English græf ("cave, grave, trench"), related to the word "groove". The adjective sense is a separate, later borrowing from Latin gravis ("heavy, serious").

gravedigger

Origin

From grave + digger.

gravel

Old French

From Old French gravele, a diminutive of grave ("gravel, seashore"), ultimately from a Celtic word for pebbles.