Link Centre Dictionary

grunt

UK/ɡɹʌnt/ US/ɡɹʊnt/ fairly common slang uk us
verb (1) noun (3)

verb

1.

issue a grunting, low, animal-like noise

  • “He grunted his reluctant approval”

noun

1.

the short low gruff noise of the kind made by pigs

2.

an unskilled or low-ranking soldier or other worker

  • “infantrymen in Vietnam were called grunts”
  • “he went from grunt to chairman in six years”
3.

medium-sized tropical marine food fishes that utter a grunting sound when caught

Origin

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.

Phrases

  • death grunt
  • grunt boy
  • grunt level
  • grunt work
  • Margaret grunt
  • margate grunt

Related words

Word family

Broader terms

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Parts

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.