grep
/ɡɹɛp/verb
grep is spelled G-R-E-P: 4 letters. It appears about once in every 8 million words in written English, the 83,271st most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a verb, grep means “To use a program such as grep to search in a file” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in grep?
| Letters | 4: G-R-E-P |
|---|---|
| In writing | about once in every 8 million words; the 83,271st most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none 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 grep?
Grep appears about once in every 8 million words in written English, the 83,271st 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 grep?
- UK /ɡɹɛp/
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-grep.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What rhymes with grep?
One word on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as grep from its last stressed vowel (/ɛp/, British pronunciation):
Spelled with the same letters in another order: preg.
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 grep
- greps present, singular, he/she/it
- grepping participle, present
- grepped participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does grep mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
verb
- 1
To use a program such as grep to search in a file.
You can't grep dead trees.
- 2
To search anything (perhaps a paper document by eye).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Grep in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense use the program grep:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| German | greppen |
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 grep come from?
From an idiomatic command sequence in the qed and ed text editors: ‘g/re/p’, meaning: globally search for a regular expression and print.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).