"G" Word Origins

growth mindset

Origin

Coined by Carol Dweck.

groyne

Origin

From Middle English groyn (“snout”), from Old French groign, from Late Latin grunium, grunia, from Latin grunnire (“grunt like a pig”).

grr

Origin

An imitative spelling of a growling sound.

GRU

Russian

From Russian ГРУ (GRU), an acronym for Главное Разведывательное Управление ("Main Intelligence Directorate").

grub

Old English · 1600

From an Old English root meaning "to dig"; the slang sense of "food" appeared in the 17th century, possibly linked to the idea of birds digging up grubs to eat.

grubby

Origin

From grub plus -y, originally suggesting something infested with grubs, later coming to mean simply dirty.

grudge

Old French

A variant of the older word grutch, from Old French grouchier meaning to grumble or murmur, likely imitative in origin.

gruel

Old French

From Old French gruel, meaning coarse meal, ultimately from a Germanic word for ground grain, related to English groats and grit.

gruelling

Origin

From the verb gruel, meaning to exhaust or punish, itself derived from the noun gruel.

gruesome

Origin · 1800

Built from the archaic word grue, meaning "to shudder with fear," plus the suffix -some; the word was popularized in the early 19th century partly through the novels of Walter Scott.

gruff

Dutch · 1500

Borrowed in the 16th century from Dutch grof, meaning coarse or rough.

grumble

Middle French

Probably from Middle French grommeler, itself from a Middle Dutch word meaning to murmur or grunt.

grumbler

Origin

From grumble + -er.

Grumbles

Origin

Apparently, a variant of Grumble.

grump

Origin

Origin uncertain, possibly an alteration of an older word grum with a similar meaning.

grumpy

Origin

Formed from grump plus the adjective-forming suffix -y.

grundy

Origin · 1798

From Mrs. Grundy, an unseen but constantly invoked prudish character in Thomas Morton's 1798 play Speed the Plough, whose name became shorthand for narrow-minded moral disapproval.

grunge

Origin

Formed by back-formation from the adjective grungy.

grunt

Old English

From Old English grunnettan, meaning to grunt, ultimately imitative of the sound itself.

grunter

Origin

From grunt + -er.

grunting

Middle English

From Middle English gruntynge (“grunting”); equivalent to grunt + -ing.

gruntle

Origin

From grunt + -le (early modern English frequentative suffix).

grynszpan

Origin

Borrowed from Polish Grynszpan, from Yiddish גריןשפּאַן (grinshpan)

gt

Latin

Short for the Latin word gutta, meaning "drop."

GTG

English

An initialism of got to go, and separately of good to go.

GTM

English

An initialism, most often of go-to-market.

GTS

English

An initialism used in text messaging.

Gu

Origin

From Mandarin 古 (Gǔ).

guacamole

Spanish

From Spanish guacamole, itself from the Aztec (Nahuatl) ahuacamolli — a blend of "avocado" and "sauce."

Guadalajara

Spanish

From Arabic wādī l-ḥijāra, "valley of stones" — the Mexican city was named after the Spanish one by Spanish conquistadors.

Guadalcanal

Spanish · 1568

Named in 1568 by a Spanish explorer after his hometown in Spain, whose own name comes from Arabic for "valley of the stalls."

guadalquivir

Origin

Borrowed from Spanish Guadalquivir, derived from Arabic وَادِي الكَبِير (wādī l-kabīr, literally “the great river”).

Guadalupe

Spanish

Borrowed from Spanish Guadalupe; see there for more. Doublet of Guadeloupe.

guadiana

Origin

From Spanish Guadiana, from Old Spanish Aguadiana, derived from Arabic وَادِي (wādī, “river, valley”) + Latin Anās (ancient name of the river), related to anas (“duck”).

Guam

Origin

From the native Chamorro word Guåhan, meaning roughly "a place that has [resources]."

guan

Spanish

Borrowed from American Spanish, ultimately from a Kuna word.

Guangdong

Origin

From Mandarin Guǎngdōng, "Guang East" — paired with neighbouring Guangxi ("Guang West"). An older form of the same name gave English "Canton."

Guangzhou

Origin

From Mandarin Guǎngzhōu, meaning roughly "expansive district."

guano

Spanish

From Spanish guano, from a Quechua word for dung.

Guantanamo

Origin

From a Taíno word meaning roughly "land between rivers."

guapo

Spanish

Spanish guapo, historically meaning bold or showy before settling into its modern sense of handsome.

guarantee

Old French

From Old French guarantie, related to a Germanic root meaning "warrant" — a close cousin of "warranty."

guaranty

Origin

From Old French guarantie, from Old French guarantie (“protection, defense”), from Old French garantir, guarantir (“to warrant, vouch for something”), from Old French garant, guarant, warant (“a warrant; warranter, supporter, defender, protector”), from Frankish *warand, *warjand (“a warrant”), from Frankish *warjan (“to fend for, designate something as true, vouch for”), from Proto-Germanic *warjaną (“to defend, protect”), from Proto-Indo-European *wer- (“to close, cover, protect, save, defend”). Cognate with Middle Low German warent, warend (“a warrant”), German gewähren (“to grant”). More at warrant. Doublet of guarantee and warranty.

guard

Old French

From Old French guarder, ultimately from a Germanic root meaning "to watch over" — a doublet of "garda" (as in "Garda," Ireland's police force).

guardhouse

Origin

Simply guard + house.

Guardia

Origin

From Romance languages.

guardian

Old French

From Old French guardein, related to "warden" — both ultimately from the Germanic root behind "guard."

guardianship

Origin

From guardian + -ship.