growl
/ˈɡɹaʊ̯l/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: 3.14 in modern English
9
Scrabble Score
5
Letters
1
Syllables
5
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
An aggressive grumbling.
noun
A low-pitched rumbling sound produced with a wind instrument.
noun
Example Sentences
- "Hardly anything is more intensely disagreeable to one walking along the street, than to hear near his path a low savage growl—the expression of a surly dog's opinion and purpose."
- "A deep growl was the answer I received, and the bear, for such it was, walked quickly away in the same direction whence he had come."
- "Riding down the main thoroughfare, the growl of his stomach taints the soothing jazz playing on the radio."
- "The clerk promised that he would; and Scrooge walked out with a growl. The office was closed in a twinkling, and the clerk, with the long ends of his white comforter dangling below his waist (for he boasted no great-coat), went down a slide on Cornhill, at the end of a lane of boys, twenty times, in honour of its being Christmas Eve, and then ran home to Camden Town as hard as he could pelt, to play at blindman's-buff."
- "The Welsh farmer, strong, broad-shouldered and blue-eyed, acknowledged Willie's presence by an unintelligible ejaculation which sounded very much like a growl, and with not very cheerful hospitality pushed a chair towards him. […] [T]he farmer swallowed his broth in huge spoonfuls, alternating with growls, […]"
- "One of the shows we saw was Captain Beefheart at the Finsbury Park Astoria, now the Rainbow Theatre. It was one of my all-time favorite shows, the Captain an outrageous character who defied all bounds of middle-class taste with his Delta-blues growl and made-up language."
Etymology
From Middle English groulen, grollen, gurlen (“of the bowels: to growl, rumble”), either possibly from Old French groler (variant of croler (“to be agitated, shake”)), grouler, grouller (“to growl, grumble”), from Frankish *grullen, *gruljan or from Old English gryllan, both from Proto-Germanic *gruljaną (“to make a sound; to growl, grumble, rumble”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʰer- (“to make a noise; to mumble, murmur; to rattle; to grind; to rub, stroke”), probably ultimately imitative. The word is cognate with Middle Dutch grollen (“to make a noise; to croak, grumble, murmur; to be angry”) (modern Dutch grollen (“to grumble”)), German grollen (“to rumble; to be angry, bear ill will”), Old English grillan, griellan (“to provoke, offend; to gnash the teeth”). Compare grill. The noun is derived from the verb.
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: groulen, groler, *grullen, gryllan, *gruljaną, *gʰer-
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈɡɹaʊ̯l/
- British English: /ˈɡɹaʊ̯l/
Usage
Inflected Forms
growls (plural)
growls (present, singular)
growling (participle, present)
growled (participle, past)
growled (past)
groil (alternative)
groul (alternative)