grime
/ɡɹaɪm/noun, verb
grime is spelled G-R-I-M-E: 5 letters and one syllable. It appears 1.2 times per million words in written English, the 25,751st most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, grime means “Dirt, grease, soot, etc. that is ingrained and difficult to remove” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in grime?
| Letters | 5: G-R-I-M-E |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 1.2 times per million words; the 25,751st most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
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).
How common is grime?
Grime appears 1.2 times per million words in written English, the 25,751st 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 grime?
- /ɡɹaɪm/
Grime 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: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-grime.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of grime
- grimes present, singular, he/she/it
- griming participle, present
- grimed participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does grime mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
Dirt, grease, soot, etc. that is ingrained and difficult to remove.
Underneath all that soot, dirt and grime is the true beauty of the church in soft shades of sandstone.
- 2
A genre of urban music that emerged in London, England, in the early 2000s, primarily a development of UK garage, dancehall, and hip hop.
verb
- 1
To begrime; to cake with dirt.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Grime in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | crasse, saleté |
| German | Schmutz, Ruß |
| Portuguese | encardimento , grime |
| Spanish | mugre, roña, pringue, carca |
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 grime come from?
From Middle English grim (“dirt or soot covering the face”), from a specialized use of Old English grīma (“mask”), from Proto-West Germanic *grīmō, from Proto-Germanic *grīmô (“mask”). Likely influenced by dialectal Dutch grijmsel (“grit, grime”), Dutch grijm (“soot, grime”), Middle Dutch gryme (“mask”), Middle Low German greme (“dirt”), compare Danish grime (“a halter”), Danish grimet (“soiled, stripy”), Norwegian Bokmål grimete (“soiled, stripy”), Norwegian Nynorsk grimete (“soiled, stripy”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).