grum
/ɡɹʌm/adjective
grum is spelled G-R-U-M: 4 letters and one syllable. It appears about once in every 18 million words in written English, the 127,184th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As an adjective, grum means “Morose, stern, surly, sullen” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in grum?
| Letters | 4: G-R-U-M |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | about once in every 18 million words; the 127,184th 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 grum?
Grum appears about once in every 18 million words in written English, the 127,184th 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 grum?
- /ɡɹʌm/
Grum 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).
Forms of grum
- grummer comparative
- grummest superlative
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does grum mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adjective
- 1
Morose, stern, surly, sullen.
- 2
Low, deep in the throat; guttural
a grum voice
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Where does grum come from?
From Middle English grom, from Old English grom, gram (“angry, wrathful”), from Proto-Germanic *gramaz (“angry, bearing a grudge”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʰrem- (“to thunder, rub, tear, scratch”). Probably influenced in form by glum. Compare also Danish grum (“cruel, atrocious, fell”), Swedish grym (“cruel, furious, terrible”). See also grim, gram, grump.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).