"G" Word Origins

greenness

Origin

From Middle English grennesse, from Old English grennes; equivalent to green + -ness.

Greenpeace

Origin

From green (environmentalism) plus peace, reflecting its founding anti-nuclear and environmental protest roots.

greens

Middle English

From Middle English grenes, simply the plural of green used to mean edible leafy vegetables.

greenscreen

Origin

From green + screen.

Greenspan

Origin

Borrowed from Yiddish גריןשפּאַן (grinshpan) Literally, “green branch, green bridle”, referring to Spanish green, copper acetate (“copper(II) acetate”)

greenway

Origin

From green plus way, describing a path through green, undeveloped land.

Greenwich

Old English

From Old English Grēnawīċ, literally "green harbour" or "green settlement."

greenwood

Middle English

From Middle English grene wode, combining green with wood.

Greer

Origin

From Scots Gregor ("Gregory").

greet

Old English

From Old English grētan, related to modern German grüßen ("to greet").

greeting

Origin

Simply "greet" plus the ending "-ing," turning the verb into a noun.

gregarious

Latin

From Latin gregarius 'belonging to a flock', from grex, greg- 'flock, herd'.

Gregoire

French

From French Grégoire.

Gregorian

Origin

Formed from the name Gregory plus the adjective-forming suffix "-ian."

Gregorio

Italian

Borrowed from Italian Gregorio. Doublet of Gregory.

Gregory

Ancient Greek

Via Latin Grēgorius, from post-classical Ancient Greek Γρηγόριος (Grēgórios, “watchful, vigilant”), from Ancient Greek ἐγείρω (egeírō, “awaken, arouse”).

Gregson

Origin

From Greg + -son.

gremlin

Origin · 1943

Origin uncertain — possibly a twist on "goblin," though the word only became widely known after Roald Dahl's 1943 story The Gremlins, about mischievous creatures sabotaging RAF planes.

Grenada

Spanish

A doublet of Granada, from the Spanish name for the city in Spain, ultimately from Arabic غَرْنَاطَة (Ḡarnāṭa).

grenade

French

From French grenade, originally meaning "pomegranate" — early grenades were named for their shape and for bursting into fragments like pomegranate seeds. It shares this root with the word "garnet."

grenadine

Origin

Borrowed from French grenadine, from Middle French grenade (“pomegranate”).

Grendel

Old English

Borrowed from Old English Grendel.

Grenoble

French

From French Grenoble.

Gresham

Old English

From Old English græs ("grass") and hām ("homestead").

Greta

German

From German and Swedish Greta, a contraction of Margareta.

Gretzky

Origin

From Belarusian Грэцкі (Hrecki).

Grew

Middle English

From Middle English grew, from Old English grēow (first and third person past tense of grōwan), from West Germanic *greu, from Northwest Germanic *grerō, from Proto-Germanic *gegrō (first and third person past tense of *grōaną), reduplication of *grōaną.

grey

Old English

From Old English grēg. The "grey" spelling comes from an older dialect form, while "gray" (the usual American spelling) comes from a slightly different Old English form — both mean the same thing.

greybeard

Origin

From grey + beard; men of advanced age would be expected to have a grey beard.

greyhound

Old English

From Old English grīghund. Despite appearances, the first part isn't related to the color "grey" — it likely comes from an Old Norse word for a female dog, later reshaped by folk etymology to look like "grey" + "hound."

greyness

Origin

From Middle English graynes, greynes; equivalent to grey + -ness.

gribble

Origin

Uncertain. Compare grub, from Proto-Germanic *grub- (“to dig”).

grice

Origin

From Middle English gris, from Old Norse gríss (“male pig; pigling”). Compare Old Dutch gristo, gristio (“boar, wild boar”).

grid

Origin

Likely a shortened form of "gridiron" or "griddle" — both refer to something made of crossing bars.

griddle

Latin

From Old French greil, related to Latin crāticula — the same root that gives us "grill" and "grate."

gride

Origin

From a metathetic variation of gird (“to strike, smite, upbraid, scold, jibe”), from Middle English girden, gerden (“to strike, thrust, smite”, literally “smite with a rod”), from gerd, yerd (“a rod, yard”). More at yard.

gridiron

Origin

From Middle English gridirne, gredirne, gredyron, gredeyron, grydern, grydyryne, girdirin, girderen, variants of Middle English gredire, gredyre, itself an alteration of Middle English gridel (“griddle”). The ending was assimilated to iron, as if from grid + iron, whence grid was later derived.

gridlock

Origin

From "grid" (as in a city's street grid) plus "lock" — describing traffic locked solid across an entire grid of intersections.

grief

Latin

From Old French grief ("heavy, painful"), from Latin gravis ("heavy") — the same root as "grave" and "gravity."

griefful

Origin

From grief + -ful.

grievance

Old French

From Old French grievance, built on the verb grever ("to burden, to harm") — related to "grieve."

grieve

Latin

From Old French grever ("to burden"), from Latin gravāre — related to "grave" and "grief."

grieven

Origin

From grieve + -en, as though from grief + -en.

grievous

Latin

From Old French grevous, related to Latin gravāre ("to burden") — built on the same root as "grief" and "grieve."

Griff

Origin

Shortened from earlier griffin.

griffin

Late Latin

From Old French griffon, from Late Latin grȳphus, from Greek grúps — the same root as "gryphon," an alternate spelling.

Griffith

Welsh

Anglicized from Welsh Gruffudd.

griffon

Origin

See griffin.