# greaves

> English word · Noun · IPA /ɡɹivz/ · frequency rank #37,006

## Definitions
1. The unmeltable residue left after animal fat has been rendered.

## Etymology
From Low German (compare German Low German Greev, Greve (“greaves”)), from Middle Low German grêve, from Old Saxon *griovo, from Proto-West Germanic *greubō (“roughage, brushwood, kindling”), perhaps related to *grubaz (“rough, coarse”), the root of German Griebe (“greaves, crackling”). Possibly related to gruff. Also compare Old High German grob (“coarse”) (modern German grob).

## Easily confused with
- **groves** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/greaves-vs-groves)
- **grieves** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/greaves-vs-grieves)
- **grave** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/grave-vs-greaves)
- **grades** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/grades-vs-greaves)
- **graves** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/graves-vs-greaves)
- **grapes** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/grapes-vs-greaves)
- **grease** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/grease-vs-greaves)
- **gravel** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/gravel-vs-greaves)
- **greats** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/greats-vs-greaves)
- **Graces** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/graces-vs-greaves)
- **grates** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/grates-vs-greaves)
- **greater** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/greater-vs-greaves)
- **greatest** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/greatest-vs-greaves)

## Common misspellings (10)
`geraves`, `ggreaves`, `graeves`, `greaevs`, `greavess`, `greavse`, `greavves`, `grevaes`, `grreaves`, `rgeaves`

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