# gripe

> English word · Verb · IPA /ɡɹaɪp/ · frequency rank #36,587

## Definitions
1. To complain; to whine.
2. To annoy or bother.
3. To tend to come up into the wind, as a ship which, when sailing close-hauled, requires constant labour at the helm.
4. To pinch; to distress. Specifically, to cause pinching and spasmodic pain to the bowels of, as by the effects of certain purgative or indigestible substances.
5. To suffer griping pains.
6. To make a grab (to, towards, at or upon something).
7. To seize or grasp.

## Etymology
From Middle English gripen, from Old English grīpan, from Proto-Germanic *grīpaną, from Proto-Indo-European *gʰreyb- (“to grab, grasp”). Cognate with West Frisian gripe, Low German griepen, Dutch grijpen, German greifen, Danish gribe, Swedish gripa. See also grip, grope.

## Easily confused with
- **grit** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/gripe-vs-grit)
- **guide** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/gripe-vs-guide)
- **grove** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/gripe-vs-grove)
- **grips** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/gripe-vs-grips)
- **guise** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/gripe-vs-guise)
- **grits** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/gripe-vs-grits)
- **guile** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/gripe-vs-guile)
- **grist** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/gripe-vs-grist)
- **grope** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/gripe-vs-grope)
- **gripped** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/gripe-vs-gripped)
- **GRE** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/gre-vs-gripe)
- **give** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/give-vs-gripe)
- **grid** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/grid-vs-gripe)
- **grip** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/grip-vs-gripe)
- **grim** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/grim-vs-gripe)
- **grin** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/grin-vs-gripe)
- **grade** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/grade-vs-gripe)
- **grace** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/grace-vs-gripe)
- **grave** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/grave-vs-gripe)
- **grief** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/grief-vs-gripe)

## Common misspellings (7)
`ggripe`, `girpe`, `griep`, `grippe`, `grpie`, `grripe`, `rgipe`

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