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PlainSpell

grab

/ˈɡɹæb/verb, noun

grab is spelled G-R-A-B: 4 letters and one syllable. It appears 33 times per million words in written English, the 2,888th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a verb, grab means “To grip suddenly; to seize; to clutch” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).

How many letters and syllables are in grab?

Letters4: G-R-A-B
Syllables1
In writing33 times per million words; the 2,888th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Rhymes with
Same letters

Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.

How common is grab?

Grab appears 33 times per million words in written English, the 2,888th most frequent word form in the list.

Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How do you pronounce grab?

  • US /ˈɡɹæb/
  • US [ˈɡɹʷæb]
  • British /ˈɡɹab/

Grab has one syllable.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-grab.ogg, LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-Grab.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

What rhymes with grab?

5 words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as grab from its last stressed vowel (/æb/):

Spelled with the same letters in another order: brag, garb.

Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).

Forms of grab

  • grabs present, singular, he/she/it, plural
  • grabbing participle, present
  • grabbed participle, past
  • ghorab
  • ghrab
  • ghurab
  • gurab

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does grab mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

verb

  1. 1

    To grip suddenly; to seize; to clutch.

    I grabbed her hand to pull her back from the cliff edge.

  2. 2

    To make a sudden grasping or clutching motion (at something).

    The suspect suddenly broke free and grabbed at the policeman's gun.

  3. 3

    To restrain someone; to arrest.

  4. 4

    To grip the attention of; to enthrall or interest.

    How does that idea grab you?

  5. 5

    informalTo quickly collect, retrieve, or take.

    Come in and grab a seat [i.e. sit down].

  6. 6

    informalTo consume something quickly.

    We'll just grab a sandwich and then we'll be on our way.

  7. 7

    To take the opportunity of.

noun

  1. 1

    A sudden snatch at something.

  2. 2

    An acquisition by violent or unjust means.

  3. 3

    A mechanical device that grabs or clutches.

  4. 4

    A device for withdrawing drills, etc., from artesian and other wells that are drilled, bored, or driven.

  5. 5

    A sound bite.

  6. 6

    obsoleteThat which is seized.

  7. 7

    slangThe rescue of a person from a burning structure.

  8. 8

    A simple card game.

  9. 9

    A two- or three-masted vessel used on the Malabar coast.

noun

as Grab
  1. 1

    informalA taxi ride booked through the Grab app.

    I will take a Grab back home. ("I will book a taxi ride from Grab to return home.")

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Grab in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchsaisir ((transitive) to seize), attraper, empoigner ((intransitive) to make a sudden grasping or…)
Germangreifen ((transitive) to seize), Greifer (a mechanical device that grabs)
Portugueseagarrar ((transitive) to seize), pegar ((intransitive) to make a sudden grasping or…), agarrador (a mechanical device that grabs), prender, deter (to restrain someone; to arrest), agarramento (the act of grabbing something or someone)
Spanishasir, agarrar, apercollar, apergollar, coger ((transitive) to seize)

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.

Where does grab come from?

From Middle Dutch grabben or Middle Low German grabben (“to grasp, grab, seize, snatch”), from Old Saxon gravan, from Proto-West Germanic *grabbōn, a secondary form of Proto-Germanic *grabōną (“to gather, rake”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʰrebʰ- (“to gather, rake, grab, seize”). Related to archaic German grappen (“to grab”), Danish grabbe (“to grab”), Swedish grabba (“to grab”), Old Norse grápa (“to seize, appropriate”), Middle English grappen (“to feel, grope, grasp, clutch”), Old English ġegræppian (“to seize”). Related also to Sanskrit गृह्णाति (gṛhṇā́ti), गृभ्णाति (gṛbhṇā́ti, “he seizes”)

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What to look up after grab