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PlainSpell

grieve

/ɡɹiːv/verb, noun

grieve is spelled G-R-I-E-V-E: 6 letters and one syllable. It appears 2.1 times per million words in written English, the 18,811th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a verb, grieve means “To cause sorrow or distress to” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).

How many letters and syllables are in grieve?

Letters6: G-R-I-E-V-E
Syllables1 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing2.1 times per million words; the 18,811th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Rhymes with

Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; 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 grieve?

Grieve appears 2.1 times per million words in written English, the 18,811th 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 grieve?

  • US /ɡɹiːv/

Grieve has one syllable (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).

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

What rhymes with grieve?

10 words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as grieve from its last stressed vowel (/iv/):

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 grieve

  • grieves present, singular, he/she/it, plural
  • grieving participle, present
  • grieved participle, past

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

What does grieve mean?

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

verb

  1. 1

    To cause sorrow or distress to.

  2. 2

    To feel very sad about; to mourn; to sorrow for.

    to grieve one's fate

  3. 3

    To experience grief.

  4. 4

    archaicTo harm.

  5. 5

    To submit or file a grievance (about).

    Even if the executive director rules against the employee on appeal, the employee can still grieve the termination to the superintendent followed by an appeal to the … Board of Trustees.

noun

  1. 1

    obsoleteA governor of a town or province.

  2. 2

    ScotlandA manager or steward, e.g. of a farm.

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

Grieve in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchattrister, chagriner (to cause sorrow to), avoir du chagrin (to feel very sad about), être affligé (to experience grief)
Portugueseafligir (to cause sorrow to), sofrer por (to feel very sad about)
Spanishcontristar, desolar (to cause sorrow to), contristarse (to feel very sad about), penarse, enlutarse (to experience grief)
Germantrauern (to experience grief)

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 grieve come from?

From Middle English greven, from Old French grever (“to burden”), from Latin gravō, gravāre, from adjective gravis (“grave”). For the meaning development compare Russian тяготи́ть (tjagotítʹ, “to be a burden (on), to oppress”), Russian тужи́ть (tužítʹ, “to experience grief”), related to тяжёлый (tjažólyj, “heavy, grave”), тя́жкий (tjážkij).

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

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