# grasp

> English word · Verb · IPA /ɡɹɑːsp/ · frequency rank #7,455

## Definitions
1. To grip; to take hold, particularly with the hand.
2. To understand.
3. To take advantage of something, to seize, to jump at a chance.

## Etymology
From Middle English graspen, grapsen, craspen (“to grope; feel around”), from Old English *grǣpsian, from Proto-West Germanic *graipisōn, from Proto-Germanic *graipisōną, from Proto-Indo-European *gʰrebʰ- (“to take, seize, rake”), the same ultimate source as grab.
Cognate with Saterland Frisian grapsje (“to grab, grasp”), German Low German grapsen (“to grab; grasp”), German grapsen and grapschen, Old English grāpian ("to touch, feel, grasp"; > Modern English grope). Compare also Swedish krafsa (“to scatch; scabble”), Norwegian krafse (“to scramble”).

## Easily confused with
- **GSP** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/grasp-vs-gsp)
- **gray** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/grasp-vs-gray)
- **grip** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/grasp-vs-grip)
- **group** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/grasp-vs-group)
- **gross** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/grasp-vs-gross)
- **grass** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/grasp-vs-grass)
- **grave** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/grasp-vs-grave)
- **gravy** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/grasp-vs-gravy)
- **grate** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/grasp-vs-grate)
- **graze** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/grasp-vs-graze)
- **grays** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/grasp-vs-grays)
- **grist** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/grasp-vs-grist)
- **grease** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/grasp-vs-grease)
- **greasy** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/grasp-vs-greasy)
- **grassy** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/grasp-vs-grassy)
- **grasse** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/grasp-vs-grasse)
- **grasped** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/grasp-vs-grasped)
- **gas** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/gas-vs-grasp)
- **gap** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/gap-vs-grasp)
- **grab** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/grab-vs-grasp)

## Common misspellings (8)
`garsp`, `ggrasp`, `graps`, `graspp`, `grassp`, `grrasp`, `grsap`, `rgasp`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/grasp