# sand

> English word · Noun · IPA /ˈsænd/ · frequency rank #3,392

## Definitions
1. Rock that is ground more finely than gravel, but is not as fine as silt (more formally, see grain sizes chart), forming beaches and deserts and also used in construction.
2. Rock that is ground more finely than gravel, but is not as fine as silt (more formally, see grain sizes chart), forming beaches and deserts and also used in construction.
3. Rock that is ground more finely than gravel, but is not as fine as silt (more formally, see grain sizes chart), forming beaches and deserts and also used in construction.
4. Personal courage.
5. A particle from 62.5 microns to 2 mm in diameter, following the Wentworth scale.
6. A light beige colour, like that of typical sand.
7. A single grain of sand.
8. A moment or interval of time; the term or extent of one's life (referring to the sand in an hourglass).
9. Dried mucus in the eye's inner corner, perhaps left from sleep (sleepy sand).
10. Dried mucus in the eye's inner corner, perhaps left from sleep (sleepy sand).
11. Dried mucus in the eye's inner corner, perhaps left from sleep (sleepy sand).

## Etymology
From Middle English sond, sand, from Old English sand, from Proto-West Germanic *samd, from Proto-Germanic *samdaz.
See also North Frisian sun, Sön, sönj (“sand”), Saterland Frisian Sound (“sand”), West Frisian sân (“sand”), Dutch zand (“sand”), German, Luxembourgish Sand (“sand”), Yiddish זאַמד (zamd, “sand”), Danish, Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk and Swedish sand (“sand”), Faroese and Icelandic sandur (“sand”), Latin sabulum (“sand, gravel”), Ancient Greek ἄμαθος (ámathos, “sand”), English dialectal samel (“sand bottom”), Old Irish do·essim (“to pour out”), Latin sentina (“bilge water”), Lithuanian sémti (“to scoop”), Ancient Greek ἀμάω (amáō, “to gather”), ἄμη (ámē, “water bucket”).

## Easily confused with
- **SD** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sand-vs-sd)
- **say** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sand-vs-say)
- **saw** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sand-vs-saw)
- **son** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sand-vs-son)
- **sun** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sand-vs-sun)
- **sat** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sand-vs-sat)
- **sin** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sand-vs-sin)
- **sen** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sand-vs-sen)
- **SNP** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sand-vs-snp)
- **sap** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sand-vs-sap)
- **Sid** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sand-vs-sid)
- **SAS** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sand-vs-sas)
- **STD** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sand-vs-std)
- **Sao** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sand-vs-sao)
- **SPD** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sand-vs-spd)
- **sod** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sand-vs-sod)
- **SNL** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sand-vs-snl)
- **SSD** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sand-vs-ssd)
- **Sar** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sand-vs-sar)
- **sax** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sand-vs-sax)

## Common misspellings (6)
`asnd`, `sadn`, `sandd`, `sannd`, `snad`, `ssand`

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