grice

/ɡɹʌɪs/

//ɡɹʌɪs// noun

"grice" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“grice” is uncommon English (frequency #63,659 among 2,313 “G” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#63,659
frequency rank, English
2,313
“G” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A pig, especially a young pig, or its meat; sometimes specifically, a breed of pig or boar native to north Britain, now extinct.

Corpus desk

Index EN-grice · grice · English

grice · rank #63,659 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #63,659
  • LEN-MID 5 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 2,313
  • PHOTO-FINISH greenstone

Nearest frequency peer: greenstone (-1 rank slots)

Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Long-tail ranks near “grice”

Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter

corpus weight

What this shows Long-tail view: where “grice” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for grice
PropertyValue
Headwordgrice
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/ɡɹʌɪs/
Letters5
Frequency rank#63,659
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “grice” in English

Word frequency stretches from the small set of words we reach for constantly (left) out to the long tail barely used once in a while (right).gricefalls in this rarity band:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Rare peers in the same band: “greenstone” (#63,658), “grievously” (#63,660), “greasing” (#63,657). Among 2,313 “G” headwords, “grice” is #63,659. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

grice is uncommon English at frequency #63,659 among 2,313 “G” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /ɡɹʌɪs/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "A pig, especially a young pig, or its meat; sometimes specifically, a breed of pig or boar native to north Britain, now extinct.".

No misspelling variants are generated for grice in our index, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. This headword has no recorded confusable partner, which usually means its spelling is distinct enough that readers don't reach for a similar-looking word instead.

Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English gris, from Old Norse gríss (“male pig; pigling”). Compare Old Dutch gristo, gristio (“boar, wild boar”). The correct English form is grice, spelled G-R-I-C-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    A pig, especially a young pig, or its meat; sometimes specifically, a breed of pig or boar native to north Britain, now extinct.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how grice appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. This fine Smooth bawson cub, the young grice of a gray
  2. Further, there was of meats wheat bread, main-bread and ginge-bread with fleshes, beef, mutton, lamb, veal, venison, goose, grice, capon, coney, cran, swan, partridge, plover, duck, drake, brissel-cock and pawnies, black-cock and muir-fowl, cappercaillies;

Etymology

From Middle English gris, from Old Norse gríss (“male pig; pigling”). Compare Old Dutch gristo, gristio (“boar, wild boar”).

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "grice"?
"grice" is spelled G-R-I-C-E. The IPA pronunciation is /ɡɹʌɪs/.
What does "grice" mean?
As a noun, "grice" means: A pig, especially a young pig, or its meat; sometimes specifically, a breed of pig or boar native to north Britain, now extinct.
How do you pronounce "grice"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "grice" is /ɡɹʌɪs/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What is the origin of the word "grice"?
From Middle English gris, from Old Norse gríss (“male pig; pigling”). Compare Old Dutch gristo, gristio (“boar, wild boar”). See the full etymology section above for more details.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar English words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "grice", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 5 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list