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grunt

/ɡɹʌnt/noun, verb

grunt is spelled G-R-U-N-T: 5 letters and one syllable. It appears 1.4 times per million words in written English, the 23,835th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, grunt means “A short snorting sound, often to show disapproval, or used as a reply when one is reluctant to speak” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of grunt is grunts.

How many letters and syllables are in grunt?

Letters5: G-R-U-N-T
Syllables1 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing1.4 times per million words; the 23,835th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone 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 grunt?

Grunt appears 1.4 times per million words in written English, the 23,835th 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 grunt?

  • /ɡɹʌnt/
  • /ɡɹʊnt/

Grunt 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). Recordings: En-us-grunt.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Forms of grunt

  • grunts plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • grunting participle, present
  • grunted participle, past

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does grunt mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

noun

  1. 1

    A short snorting sound, often to show disapproval, or used as a reply when one is reluctant to speak.

  2. 2

    The snorting cry of a pig.

  3. 3

    Any fish of the perciform family Haemulidae.

  4. 4

    A person who does ordinary and boring work.

  5. 5

    USslangAn infantry soldier.

  6. 6

    slangThe amount of power of which a vehicle is capable.

  7. 7

    CanadaUSA dessert of steamed berries and dough, usually blueberries; blueberry grunt.

verb

  1. 1

    To make a grunt or grunts.

  2. 2

    To make a grunt or grunts.

  3. 3

    UKslangTo break wind; to fart.

    Who just grunted?

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Grunt in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchgrognement (short, snorting sound), bidasse, troufion, griveton (an infantry soldier), grogner (of a person: to make a grunt or grunts)
GermanGrunzer, Stöhnen (short, snorting sound), grunzen (of a person: to make a grunt or grunts), Grunzen (cry of a pig), Hucker, Handlanger (a person who does ordinary and boring work)
Portuguesegrunido (short, snorting sound), grunir (of a person: to make a grunt or grunts)
Spanishgruñido (short, snorting sound), machaca (an infantry soldier), gruñir (of a person: to make a grunt or grunts), currito (a person who does ordinary and boring work), burro, ronco (fish of the family Haemulidae)

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 grunt come from?

From Middle English grunten, from Old English grunnettan (“to grunt”), from Proto-West Germanic *grunnattjan, from Proto-Germanic *grunnatjaną (“to grunt”), frequentative of Proto-Germanic *grunnōną (“to grunt”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʰrun- (“to shout”).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

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