gristle
/ˈɡɹɪsəl/noun
gristle is spelled G-R-I-S-T-L-E: 7 letters and 2 syllables. It appears about once in every 5 million words in written English, the 69,884th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, gristle means “Cartilage; now especially: cartilage present, as a tough substance, in meat” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of gristle is gristles.
How many letters and syllables are in gristle?
| Letters | 7: G-R-I-S-T-L-E |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | about once in every 5 million words; the 69,884th 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 and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; 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 gristle?
Gristle appears about once in every 5 million words in written English, the 69,884th 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 gristle?
- /ˈɡɹɪsəl/
Gristle has 2 syllables (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-gristle.wav, LL-Q1860_(eng)-Naomi_Persephone_Amethyst_(NaomiAmethyst)-gristle.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What rhymes with gristle?
No other word on PlainSpell ends in the same sounds as gristle.
Spelled with the same letters in another order: glister.
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 gristle
- gristles plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does gristle mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
Cartilage; now especially: cartilage present, as a tough substance, in meat.
- 2
Bone not yet hardened by age and hard work.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Gristle in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense cartilage:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | cartilage |
| German | Knorpel |
| Portuguese | cartilagem |
| Spanish | cartílago, ternilla |
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 gristle come from?
From Middle English gristel, grystyl, from Old English gristel (“gristle, cartilage”), Proto-West Germanic *gristl, of obscure origin; possibly from a pre-Germanic substrate language. Seemingly equivalent to a diminutive of Old English grist (“a grinding”), equivalent to modern English grist + -le; possibly related to Proto-Germanic *gredaną (“to crunch”). Cognate with Old Frisian gristel, gerstel (“gristle, cartilage”), Middle Low German gristel (“gristle”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).