grunt

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.^[1]

• IPA^(key): /ɡɹʌnt/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ʌnt

grunt (plural grunts)

1. A short snorting sound, often to show disapproval, or used as a reply when one is reluctant to speak.
   • 1861, Charles Dickens, Great Expectations, Chapter X:

     The stranger, with a comfortable kind of grunt over his pipe, put his legs up on the settle that he had to himself.

2. The snorting cry of a pig.
3. Any fish of the perciform family Haemulidae.
4. A person who does ordinary and boring work.

   Synonyms: gofer, lackey, peon

5. (US, military slang) An infantry soldier.

   Coordinate term: pogue

   • 1979, Gustav Hasford, The Short-Timers, New York: Bantam Books, published 1980, →ISBN, page 39:

     The poges stare at the grunts as though the grunts were Hell's Angels at the ballet.

   • 1984, Charles Robert Anderson, The Grunts, Berkley Books, →ISBN, page xii:

     The events described are those encountered by only 160 men, though the adversity recounted is representative of that experienced by all grunts in Vietnam.

   • 1986, James Cameron, Aliens, spoken by Burke (Paul Reiser):

     He can't make that kind of decision. He's just a grunt!

6. (slang) The amount of power of which a vehicle is capable.
   • 1992, Autocar & Motor, volume 192, page 61:

     The engine might not possess quite as much grunt as the later 24v six, but it delivers invigorating performance […]

   • 2006 February, Torque, page 56:

     With this much grunt, it is surprising that the engine is relatively quiet.

   • 2021 February, The Road Ahead, Brisbane, page 55, column 2:

     The lack of bottom-end grunt presents as a particular problem in hilly terrain where the five-speed manual gearbox really earns its keep.

7. (Canada, US) A dessert of steamed berries and dough, usually blueberries; blueberry grunt.

   Synonyms: fungy, fungee

grunt (third-person singular simple present grunts, present participle grunting, simple past and past participle grunted)

1. (intransitive, of a person) To make a grunt or grunts.
   • c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene i]:

     to grunt and sweat under a weary life

   • 2018, Tim Flannery, Europe: A Natural History, page 186:

     The silhouette sharpens and fades as the carving is moved before the flames of the hearth, its maker grunts in perfect imitation of the ancestor - a human-lioness in oestrus.

2. (intransitive, of a pig) To make a grunt or grunts.
3. (intransitive, UK, slang) To break wind; to fart.

   Who just grunted?

The frequentative form gruntle.

Inherited from Old Czech grunt, from Middle High German grunt, from Old High German grunt (modern German Grund).

• IPA^(key): [ˈɡrunt]

grunt m inan

1. (dialectal) base, core

   Synonym: základ

   vzít z gruntu ― (please add an English translation of this usage example)

2. (archaic) farm

   Synonym: statek

• “grunt”, in Příruční slovník jazyka českého (in Czech), 1935–1957
• “grunt”, in Slovník spisovného jazyka českého (in Czech), 1960–1971, 1989
• “grunt”, in Internetová jazyková příručka (in Czech), 2008–2025

grunt

1. alternative form of grunten

grunt

1. neuter singular of grunn

grunt

1. neuter singular of grunn

From Proto-West Germanic *grundu, from Proto-Germanic *grunduz.

grunt m

1. ground

• Middle Dutch: gront
  • Dutch: grond

• “grunt”, in Oudnederlands Woordenboek, 2012

From Proto-West Germanic *grundu, from Proto-Germanic *grunduz.

grunt m

1. ground
2. root
3. hollow

• gruntfrost

• Middle High German: grunt
  • Cimbrian: grund, grumf (< with epenthetic -f- *grumfþuz)
  • German: Grund
  • Luxembourgish: Grond
  • → Old Polish: grunt
    • Polish: grunt, gront, grąt (Middle Polish), gruńt (Southern Greater Poland), grońt (Kuyavia, Ciechocinek)
      • → Kashubian: gruńt, grëńt
    • Silesian: grōnt
  • → Russian: грунт (grunt)
    • → Serbo-Croatian: грунт
  • Yiddish: גרונט (grunt)

• Köbler, Gerhard, Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, (6. Auflage) 2014

Borrowed from Middle High German grunt, from Old High German grunt. First attested in 1402.

• IPA^(key): (10^th–15^th CE) /ɡrunt/
• IPA^(key): (15^th CE) /ɡrunt/

grunt m animacy unattested

1. ground; field; land
   • 1874 [1402], Monumenta Medii Aevi Historica res gestas Poloniae illustrantia. Pomniki Dziejowe Wieków Średnich do objaśnienia rzeczy polskich służące‎^[1], volume XVII, page 81:

     Iohannes... conuallem scilicet vlg. grunt dictam... resignauit

     [Iohannes... conuallem scilicet vlg. grunt dictam... resignauit]

2. (attested in Silesia) core (basis of a given thing, foundation)
   • 1956 [Middle of the 15th century], Jerzy Woronczak, editor, Teksty polskie w rękopisie nr 43 Biblioteki Kapitulnej we Wrocławiu z połowy XV wieku‎^[2], Silesia, page 56v:

     Dixit Paulus Petro: Pax tecum, fundamentum, grunt, ecclesiarum et pastor ovium

     [Dixit Paulus Petro: Pax tecum, fundamentum, grunt, ecclesiarum et pastor ovium]

• Polish: grunt, gront, grąt (Middle Polish), gruńt (Southern Greater Poland), grońt (Kuyavia, Ciechocinek)
  • → Kashubian: gruńt, grëńt
• Silesian: grōnt

• Boryś, Wiesław (2005) “grunt”, in Słownik etymologiczny języka polskiego (in Polish), Kraków: Wydawnictwo Literackie, →ISBN
• Mańczak, Witold (2017) “grunt”, in Polski słownik etymologiczny (in Polish), Kraków: Polska Akademia Umiejętności, →ISBN
• Bańkowski, Andrzej (2000) “grunt”, in Etymologiczny słownik języka polskiego [Etymological Dictionary of the Polish Language] (in Polish)
• Sławski, Franciszek (1958-1965) “grunt”, in Jan Safarewicz, Andrzej Siudut, editors, Słownik etymologiczny języka polskiego [Etymological dictionary of the Polish language] (in Polish), Kraków: Towarzystwo Miłośników Języka Polskiego
• B. Sieradzka-Baziur, Ewa Deptuchowa, Joanna Duska, Mariusz Frodyma, Beata Hejmo, Dorota Janeczko, Katarzyna Jasińska, Krystyna Kajtoch, Joanna Kozioł, Marian Kucała, Dorota Mika, Gabriela Niemiec, Urszula Poprawska, Elżbieta Supranowicz, Ludwika Szelachowska-Winiarzowa, Zofia Wanicowa, Piotr Szpor, Bartłomiej Borek, editors (2011–2015), “grunt”, in Słownik pojęciowy języka staropolskiego [Conceptual Dictionary of Old Polish] (in Polish), Kraków: IJP PAN, →ISBN

• gront, grąt (Middle Polish)
• gruńt (Southern Greater Poland)
• grońt (Kuyavia, Ciechocinek)

Inherited from Old Polish grunt.

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -unt
• Syllabification: grunt

grunt m inan (diminutive gruncik, related adjective gruntowy)

1. (countable) ground (arable soil or earth)

   Synonyms: gleba, rola, ziemia

2. (countable) ground (surface of the earth in a specific place)

   Synonym: ziemia

3. (chiefly in the plural, officialese) ground (area of land that is owned by someone)

   Synonym: teren

4. (uncountable, masonry) mortar; primer (substance that binds strongly to the substrate, used as a base for painting, plastering and polishing)

   Synonym: zaprawa

5. (uncountable, literary) base; primer (previously prepared basis for certain actions; essential element of something) [with dla (+ genitive) or pod (+ accusative) ‘for what’]

   Synonym: podstawa

6. (uncountable, literary) foundation; core (certain ideological, cultural whole, characteristic of a specific country or social environment)
7. (countable) ground (bottom of a body of water)
8. (countable, obsolete) foundation (bottom of a construction)

   Synonym: fundament

9. (countable, obsolete) core (reason or cause for something)
10. (uncountable, obsolete) land; continent (area of the earth not covered by water)

    Synonym: ląd

11. (Middle Polish) world

    Synonym: świat

12. (Middle Polish) background

    Synonym: tło

13. (Middle Polish) source; documentation; evidence (document or fact that can be relied upon)
14. (Middle Polish) certainty, solidness
15. (Middle Polish) source (place where something arises)
16. (Middle Polish) etymology; etymon

    Synonym: źródłosłów

17. (Middle Polish) original version of something

    Synonym: oryginał

18. (Middle Polish) pattern, symbol
19. (Middle Polish) prepositional phrase
20. (Middle Polish) fundament; Further details are uncertain.
    • 1532, Bartłomiej z Bydgoszczy, Słownik łacińsko-polski‎^[3], page 62:

      Fundamentum, grvnth, początek

      [Fundamentum, grunt, początek]

    • 1564, J. Mączyński, Lexicon‎^[4], page 400b:

      Solum, Dno/ grunt/ ziemiá.

      [Solum, Dno/ grunt/ ziemia.]

    • 1564, J. Mączyński, Lexicon‎^[5], pages 451c, 140b [2 r.]:

      Terrenum, Dno/ grunt álbo poległość ziemie.

      [Terrenum, Dno/ grunt albo poległość ziemie.]

    • 1588, A. Calepinus, Dictionarium decem linguarum‎^[6], pages 441a, 990b:

      Fundum ‒ Grunt, dno.

      [Fundum ‒ Grunt, dno.]

The nominative and accusative plural form grunta is dated.

• → Kashubian: gruńt, grëńt

• grunt in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• grunt in Polish dictionaries at PWN
• Maria Renata Mayenowa, Stanisław Rospond, Witold Taszycki, Stefan Hrabec, Władysław Kuraszkiewicz (2010-2023) “grunt”, in Słownik Polszczyzny XVI Wieku [A Dictionary of 16th Century Polish]
• “GRUNT”, in Elektroniczny Słownik Języka Polskiego XVII i XVIII Wieku [Electronic Dictionary of the Polish Language of the XVII and XVIII Century], 25.05.2009
• Samuel Bogumił Linde (1807–1814) “grunt”, in Słownik języka polskiego
• Aleksander Zdanowicz (1861) “grunt”, in Słownik języka polskiego, Wilno 1861
• J. Karłowicz, A. Kryński, W. Niedźwiedzki, editors (1900), “grunt”, in Słownik języka polskiego (in Polish), volume 1, Warsaw, page 921
• Aleksander Saloni (1899) “grunt”, in “Lud wiejski w okolicy Przeworska”, in M. Arct, E. Lubowski, editors, Wisła : miesięcznik gieograficzno-etnograficzny (in Polish), volume 13, Warsaw: Artur Gruszecki, page 238

Borrowed from German Grund.

• IPA^(key): /ɡrûnt/

grȕnt m inan (Cyrillic spelling гру̏нт)

1. (regional) plot of land, lot

grunt

1. indefinite neuter singular of grund

grunt

1. shallowly

   gentemot såväl grundt rationalistiska som känslosamt svärmiska religiösa riktningar.

   towards both shallowly rationalistic and emotionally fanatical religious tendencies.