grunt
/ɡɹʌnt/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: 3.15 in modern English
6
Scrabble Score
5
Letters
1
Syllables
5
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A short snorting sound, often to show disapproval, or used as a reply when one is reluctant to speak.
Example Sentences
- "The stranger, with a comfortable kind of grunt over his pipe, put his legs up on the settle that he had to himself."
- "The poges stare at the grunts as though the grunts were Hell's Angels at the ballet."
- "The events described are those encountered by only 160 men, though the adversity recounted is representative of that experienced by all grunts in Vietnam."
- "He can't make that kind of decision. He's just a grunt!"
- "The engine might not possess quite as much grunt as the later 24v six, but it delivers invigorating performance […]"
- "With this much grunt, it is surprising that the engine is relatively quiet."
Etymology
From Middle English grunten, from Old English grunnettan (“to grunt”), from Proto-West Germanic *grunnattjan, from Proto-Germanic *grunnatjaną (“to grunt”), frequentative of Proto-Germanic *grunnōną (“to grunt”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʰrun- (“to shout”). Cognate with German grunzen (“to grunt”), Danish grynte (“to grunt”). The noun senses are all instances of zero derivation from the verb.
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: grunten, grunnettan, *grunnattjan, *grunnatjaną, *grunnōną, *gʰrun-