grig
/ɡɹɪɡ/noun, verb
grig is spelled G-R-I-G: 4 letters. It appears about once in every 25 million words in written English, the 152,206th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, grig means “A cricket or grasshopper” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of grig is grigs.
How many letters and syllables are in grig?
| Letters | 4: G-R-I-G |
|---|---|
| In writing | about once in every 25 million words; the 152,206th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| 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 grig?
Grig appears about once in every 25 million words in written English, the 152,206th 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 grig?
- /ɡɹɪɡ/
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-grig.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What rhymes with grig?
No other word on PlainSpell ends in the same sounds as grig.
Spelled with the same letters in another order: rigg.
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 grig
- grigs plural, present, singular, he/she/it
- grigging participle, present
- grigged participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does grig mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
obsoleteA dwarf.
- 2
A cricket or grasshopper.
- 3
A small or young eel.
[W]e assembled at one o'clock, at two sat down to dinner, consisting of capital stewed grigs, a dish Mrs Burt was famous for dressing, a large joint of roast or boiled meat, with proper vegetables and a good-sized pudding or pie […] .
- 4
Specifically, the broad-nosed eel. See glut.
- 5
UKHeath or heather.
verb
- 1
IrelandUSTo irritate or annoy.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Where does grig come from?
The word is often used in the phrase "merry as a grig". The word is of uncertain origin, though various theories have been suggested, such as a corruption of "merry as a cricket" or "merry as a Greek", as in William Shakespeare's Troilus and Cressida: "Then she's a merry Greek indeed." Johnson suggested that the word originally meant "anything below the natural size" (compare Swedish krik and Scots crick).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).