grovel
/ˈɡrɒvəl/verb
grovel is spelled G-R-O-V-E-L: 6 letters and 2 syllables. It appears about once in every 5 million words in written English, the 68,248th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a verb, grovel means “To be prone on the ground” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in grovel?
| Letters | 6: G-R-O-V-E-L |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | about once in every 5 million words; the 68,248th 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 grovel?
Grovel appears about once in every 5 million words in written English, the 68,248th 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 grovel?
- /ˈɡrɒvəl/
- /ˈɡrʌvəl/
Grovel 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: En-us-grovel.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What rhymes with grovel?
No other word on PlainSpell ends in the same sounds as grovel.
Spelled with the same letters in another order: glover.
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 grovel
- grovels present, singular, he/she/it
- groveling US, participle, present
- grovelling UK, participle, present
- groveled US, participle, past
- grovelled UK, participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does grovel mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
verb
- 1
To be prone on the ground.
- 2
To crawl.
- 3
To abase oneself before another person.
She refused to grovel in front of the bully, standing her ground.
- 4
To be slavishly nice to someone or apologize in the hope of securing something.
He had to grovel before his boss after missing the important meeting.
- 5
To take pleasure in mundane activities.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Grovel in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| Spanish | prostrarse, postrarse , humillarse , arrastrarse |
| French | s'abaisser, s'aplatir , larbiner , ramper |
| German | katzbuckeln, auf dem Bauch rutschen , schleimen , kriechen |
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 grovel come from?
From Middle English *grovelen, from Old Norse grufla, grœfla (“to grovel”), from Proto-Germanic *grubilōną (“to dig, delve into”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʰrebʰ‑ (“to dig, scrape, scrabble, scratch”); akin to Old Norse á grufu (“on one's belly”) ( > Old Norse grúfa (“to lie face down, grovel”)). Cognate with Scots grovel, gruvil (“to grovel”), German grübeln (“to meditate, ponder”), Norwegian Nynorsk gruvla (“to grovel”). Compare also West Frisian groebeltsje (“to make a mess, skip school, skive”), Dutch grobbelen (“to grope, root, grub”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).