grunt

See also: Grunt and grünt

English

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.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɡɹʌnt/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ʌnt

Noun

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

Derived terms

• death grunt
• grunt boy
• grunt-horn
• grunt-level
• grunt level
• grunt work
• Margaret grunt

 

Translations

short, snorting sound

• Bulgarian: сумтене n (sumtene)
• Czech: zavrčení n, zabručení n
• Danish: fnys n
• Dutch: grom (nl)
• Finnish: murahdus (fi)
• French: grognement (fr)
• German: Grunzer m, Stöhnen n
• Greek: γρυλλισμός m (gryllismós)
• Ido: gruno (io)
• Irish: gnúsacht f
• Italian: grugnito (it) m
• Latin: grunnītus m
• Maori: horu, horuhoru
• Ottoman Turkish: اوفكه‎ (ufke, öfke)
• Portuguese: grunido m
• Romanian: groh (ro) n, mârâit (ro) n, mormăit (ro) n
• Russian: ворча́ние (ru) n (vorčánije), бурча́ние (ru) n (burčánije)
• Spanish: gruñido (es) m
• Swedish: grymtning (sv) c
• Turkish: homurdanma, homurtu (tr)

cry of a pig

• Basque: kurrinka
• Bulgarian: грухтене n (gruhtene)
• Catalan: gruny (ca) m
• Czech: chrochtání n, zachrochtání n
• Danish: grynt n
• Dutch: knor (nl) m
• Finnish: röhkäisy
• Galician: cuincho m, cuiña f
• German: Grunzen m
• Greek: γρυλλισμός m (gryllismós)
• Hungarian: röfögés (hu)
• Ido: gruno (io)
• Italian: grugnito (it) m
• Latin: grunnītus m
• Maori: ngō, horuhoru
• Portuguese: grunido m
• Romanian: grohăit (ro) n
• Russian: хрю́канье (ru) n (xrjúkanʹje)
• Swedish: grymtning (sv) c

fish of the family Haemulidae

• Finnish: murisija
• German: Grunzer m
• Spanish: burro (es) m, ronco (es) m
• Swedish: grymtfisk c
• Tagalog: gonggong
• Vietnamese: (cá) sạo

a person who does ordinary and boring work

• German: Hucker (de) m, Handlanger (de) m, Hilfsarbeiter (de) m, Ungelernter m, Hiwi (de) m (pejorative)
• Greek: ανειδίκευτος εργάτης m (aneidíkeftos ergátis)
• Spanish: currito
• Swedish: hantlangare (sv) c

an infantry soldier

• Danish: fodtusse c
• Finnish: nurmipora
• French: bidasse (fr) f, troufion (fr) m
• German: Frontschwein (de) n, Landser (de) m
• Hebrew: רַגְלִי‎ (he) m (raglí)
• Spanish: machaca (es)

(slang) the amount of power of which a vehicle is capable

• Bulgarian: мощност (bg) f (moštnost)
• German: Wumms (de) m, Pfeffer (de) m
• Romanian: putere (ro) f

Verb

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?

Translations

of a person: to make a grunt or grunts

• Aromanian: gurnjescu
• Bulgarian: сумтя (bg) (sumtja)
• Czech: vrčet (cs) impf, zavrčet (cs) pf, bručet (cs) impf, zabručet pf, odseknout pf
• Danish: fnyse
• Finnish: murahtaa (fi) (single grunt), murista (fi) (multiple grunts)
• Galician: gruñir (gl), rosmar (gl), roñar (gl)
• German: grunzen (de)
• Greek: γρυλλίζω (el) (gryllízo)

  Ancient: γρυλλίζω (grullízō)

• Hungarian: felmordul (hu), morog (hu)
• Ido: grunar (io)
• Latin: grunniō
• Maori: ngengere, ngunguru, whēnanau, ngō, kumukumu, ngō, horu, ngengeri
• Middle English: grunten
• Norman: gronner
• Old English: grunnian, grunnettan
• Portuguese: grunir
• Romanian: grohăi (ro), mârâi (ro), mormăi (ro)
• Russian: ворча́ть (ru) (vorčátʹ), бурча́ть (ru) (burčátʹ)
• Spanish: gruñir (es)
• Swedish: grymta (sv)

of a pig: to make a grunt or grunts

• Armenian: please add this translation if you can
• Basque: kurrinkatu
• Bulgarian: грухтя (gruhtja)
• Catalan: grunyir (ca)
• Czech: chrochtat impf, zachrochtat pf
• Danish: grynte
• Esperanto: grunti
• Faroese: rína
• Finnish: röhkäistä (single grunt), röhkiä (fi) (multiple grunts)
• French: grogner (fr)
• Galician: cuincar (gl), cuiñar (gl), roñar (gl)
• Georgian: please add this translation if you can
• German: grunzen (de)
• Greek: γρυλλίζω (el) (gryllízo)

  Ancient: γρυλλίζω (grullízō)

• Hungarian: röfög (hu)
• Ido: grunar (io)
• Italian: grugnire (it)
• Khmer: ង៉េកៗ (ngeek-ngeek)
• Latin: grunniō
• Macedonian: гровта (grovta)
• Maori: ngengeri, horuhoru, ngō
• Middle English: grunten
• Mongolian: please add this translation if you can
• Norman: gronner
• Old English: grunnian, grunnettan
• Portuguese: grunir
• Romanian: grohăi (ro)
• Russian: хрю́кать (ru) (xrjúkatʹ)
• Spanish: gruñir (es)
• Swedish: grymta (sv)
• Thai: please add this translation if you can
• Vietnamese: please add this translation if you can

See also

The frequentative form gruntle.

Middle English

Verb

grunt

1. Alternative form of grunten

Norwegian Bokmål

Adjective

grunt

1. neuter singular of grunn

Norwegian Nynorsk

Adjective

grunt

1. neuter singular of grunn

Old Dutch

Etymology

From Proto-Germanic *grunduz.

Noun

grunt m

1. ground

Inflection

This noun needs an inflection-table template.

Descendants

• Middle Dutch: gront
  • Dutch: grond

Further reading

• “grunt”, in Oudnederlands Woordenboek, 2012

Old High German

Etymology

From Proto-Germanic *grunduz.

Noun

grunt m

1. ground
2. root
3. hollow

Declension

Declension of grunt (masculine a-stem)

case	singular	plural
nominative	grunt	grunta
accusative	grunt	grunta
genitive	gruntes	grunto
dative	grunte	gruntum
instrumental	gruntu	—

Derived terms

• gruntfrost

Descendants

• 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)

References

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

Polish

Etymology

Borrowed from German Grund.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɡrunt/

• Audio

  (file)

• Rhymes: -unt
• Syllabification: grunt

Noun

grunt m inan

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

Declension

Declension of grunt

	singular	plural
nominative	grunt	grunty
genitive	gruntu	gruntów
dative	gruntowi	gruntom
accusative	grunt	grunty
instrumental	gruntem	gruntami
locative	gruncie	gruntach
vocative	gruncie	grunty

Derived terms

verbs

• badać grunt
• wybadać grunt

 

• gruntownie
• gruntowność
• gruntowny
• gruntowy

 

Further reading

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

Serbo-Croatian

Etymology

Borrowed from German Grund.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɡrûnt/

Noun

grȕnt m (Cyrillic spelling гру̏нт)

1. (regional) plot of land, lot

Declension

Declension of grunt

	singular	plural
nominative	grȕnt	grùntovi
genitive	grunta	gruntova
dative	gruntu	gruntovima
accusative	grunt	gruntove
vocative	grunte	gruntovi
locative	gruntu	gruntovima
instrumental	gruntom	gruntovima

Swedish

Adjective

grunt

1. indefinite neuter singular of grund

Adverb

grunt

1. shallowly

   gentemot såväl grundt rationalistiska som känslosamt svärmiska religiösa riktningar.

   towards both shallowly rationalistic and emotionally fanatical religious tendencies.