grains

The word “grains” means small hard seeds from cereal plants (such as wheat, rice, or barley), especially as harvested for food. In plain terms, small particles — usually the seeds of cereal crops, but also used for tiny bits of anything granular like sand.

“Grains” is pronounced graynz (/ɡɹeɪnz/ in IPA).

Here is “grains” used in a sentence: “The silo was filled with grains ready for milling.”

“Grains” is a noun.

“Grains” is an uncommon word in modern English.

“Grains” has 3 distinct senses listed in this dictionary. The most common is: small hard seeds from cereal plants (such as wheat, rice, or barley), especially as harvested for food.

"Grain" can refer to cereal crops collectively as an uncountable noun, such as "a field of grain," while "grains" is the plural form used for counting individual seeds or particles, as in "a few grains of rice" or "grains of sand." Both share the same core meaning but differ in countability.

Whole grains keep all parts of the cereal seed intact, while refined grains have parts removed during processing, changing their nutritional content. Since grains refers broadly to the small hard seeds from cereal plants such as wheat, rice, or barley, this distinction concerns how those seeds are processed, not the botanical definition itself.

In the tanning industry, "grains" refers specifically to dried pigeon or bird droppings once used to soften leather hides, a specialized historical usage distinct from the common food or particle senses. This term reflects an older craft process rather than modern tanning methods.