# grinch

> English word · Noun · IPA /ɡɹɪnt͡ʃ/ · frequency rank #34,089

## Definitions
1. A grouch or killjoy.
2. A person who is aggressively intent on ruining the Christmas holidays for others.

## Etymology
Named after the main character in a children's book by Dr. Seuss, How the Grinch Stole Christmas! (1957). Coined as early as 1953, the term was initially used for a fictitious bird named the "Beagle-Beaked-Bald-Headed Grinch" in Scrambled Eggs Super!; it became associated with the character in a poem published in the May 1955 issue of Redbook, "The Hoobub and the Grinch". Likely a corruption of grouch.

## Easily confused with
- **grind** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/grinch-vs-grind)
- **grins** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/grinch-vs-grins)
- **grinds** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/grinch-vs-grinds)
- **gringo** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/grinch-vs-gringo)
- **grin** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/grin-vs-grinch)
- **glitch** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/glitch-vs-grinch)

## Common misspellings (10)
`ggrinch`, `girnch`, `gricnh`, `grincch`, `grinchh`, `grinhc`, `grinnch`, `grnich`, `grrinch`, `rginch`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/grinch