grift
/ɡɹɪft/noun, verb
grift is spelled G-R-I-F-T: 5 letters. It appears about once in every 5 million words in written English, the 68,248th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). People search “graft vs grift” about 480 times a month (Google, United States). As a noun, grift means “A confidence game or swindle” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of grift is grifts.
How many letters and syllables are in grift?
| Letters | 5: G-R-I-F-T |
|---|---|
| In writing | about once in every 5 million words; the 68,248th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Pairs people search |
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); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026).
How common is grift?
Grift appears about once in every 5 million words in written English, the 68,248th 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 grift?
- /ɡɹɪft/
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-au-grift.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with grift
Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).
Sources: Google and Bing searches (September 2025 to August 2026, through DataForSEO); English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
Forms of grift
- grifts plural, present, singular, he/she/it
- grifting participle, present
- grifted participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does grift mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
USslangA confidence game or swindle.
Hey, what's the grift? What are you trying to pull?
verb
- 1
USslangTo obtain illegally, as by con game.
- 2
USslangTo obtain money illegally.
- 3
USslangTo obtain money immorally or through deceitful means.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Grift in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense to obtain (money) illegally, as by con game:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| German | erschwindeln |
| Spanish | estafa, fraude, timo, engaño |
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 grift come from?
American criminal underworld slang, 1906 (noun), 1915 (verb), alteration of graft (“corruption, illicit profit through corrupt means, bribe, one's occupation”), alteration perhaps influenced by similar sounding words, e.g. drift, etc., probably ultimately from Middle Dutch graft (“digging, ditch, canal, trench”) (modern Dutch gracht), related to Dutch graven (“to dig”), English grave (“to dig”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).