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, Torque (February 2006, page 56)

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

   • 2021 February 1, The Road Ahead, 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 boy
• grunt-level
• grunt level
• grunt work

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 606515358, [Act III, scene i]:

     to grunt and sweat under a weary life

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.

grunt

1. Alternative form of grunten

grunt

1. neuter singular of grunn

grunt

1. neuter singular of grunn

From Proto-Germanic *grunduz.

grunt m

1. ground

This noun needs an inflection-table template.

• Middle Dutch: gront
  • Dutch: grond

• “grunt”, in Oudnederlands Woordenboek, 2012

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
  • → Polish: grunt
    • → Ukrainian: ґрунт (grunt)
  • → Russian: грунт (grunt)
    • → Serbo-Croatian: грунт
  • Yiddish: גרונט‎ (grunt)

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

Borrowed from German Grund.

• IPA^(key): /ɡrunt/

• Audio

  (file)

• Rhymes: -unt
• Syllabification: grunt

grunt m inan

1. (construction, geology) soil
2. ground (the bottom of a body of water)

• grunt in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• grunt in Polish dictionaries at PWN

Borrowed from German Grund.

• IPA^(key): /ɡrûnt/

grȕnt m (Cyrillic spelling гру̏нт)

1. (regional) plot of land, lot

grunt

1. absolute 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.