grief

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English

Alternative forms

Etymology

From Middle English greef, gref, from Old French grief (“grave, heavy, grievous, sad”), from Latin gravis (“heavy, grievous, sad”). Doublet of grave.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ɡɹiːf/
  • Audio (US)(file)
  • Audio (UK)(file)
  • Rhymes: -iːf

Noun

grief (countable and uncountable, plural griefs or grieves)

  1. Suffering, hardship.
    The neighbour's teenage give me grief every time they see me.
  2. Emotional pain, generally arising from misfortune, significant personal loss, bereavement, misconduct of oneself or others, etc.; sorrow; sadness.
    She was worn out from so much grief.
    The betrayal caused Jeff grief.
    • 1576, George Whetstone, “The Ortchard of Repentance: ”, in The Rocke of Regard, , London: for Robert Waley, →OCLC; republished in J[ohn] P[ayne] Collier, editor, The Rocke of Regard,  (Illustrations of Early English Poetry; vol. 2, no. 2), London: Privately printed, , →OCLC, page 291:
      And ſure, although it was invented to eaſe his mynde of griefe, there be a number of caveats therein to forewarne other young gentlemen to foreſtand with good government their folowing yl fortunes; […]
  3. (countable) Cause or instance of sorrow or pain; that which afflicts or distresses; trial.

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

grief (third-person singular simple present griefs, present participle griefing, simple past and past participle griefed)

  1. (online gaming) To deliberately harass and annoy or cause grief to other players of a game in order to interfere with their enjoyment of it; especially, to do this as one’s primary activity in the game, and especially by exploiting game mechanics without using cheats to do so.
    • 2008 January 18, Julian Dibbell, “Mutilated Furries, Flying Phalluses: Put the Blame on Griefers, the Sociopaths of the Virtual World”, in Wired‎:
      While ban and his pals stand squarely in this tradition, they also stand for something new: the rise of organized griefing, grounded in online message-board communities and thick with in-jokes, code words, taboos, and an increasingly articulate sense of purpose. No longer just an isolated pathology, griefing has developed a full-fledged culture.

Usage notes

  • This verb is most commonly found in the gerund-participle griefing and the derived noun griefer.

Related terms

Further reading

Dutch

Etymology

From Middle Dutch grief, from Old French grief, from Early Medieval Latin grevem, alteration of Latin gravem.

Pronunciation

Noun

grief f (plural grieven, diminutive griefje n)

  1. (chiefly in the plural) grievance, complaint, bone to pick, issue

Derived terms

French

Etymology

Inherited from Old French grief, from Early Medieval Latin grevem, alteration of Latin gravem. Doublet of grave, a borrowing from Latin.

Pronunciation

Adjective

grief (feminine griève, masculine plural griefs, feminine plural grièves)

  1. (archaic, literary) grievous

Derived terms

Noun

grief m (plural griefs)

  1. complaint
  2. grief
  3. grievance (formal complaint filed with an authority)

Further reading

Anagrams

Ladin

Etymology

From Early Medieval Latin grevem, alteration of Latin gravem.

Adjective

grief m (feminine singular grieva, masculine plural griefs, feminine plural grieves)

  1. arduous
  2. difficult
  3. steep

Old French

Alternative forms

  • gref (typically Anglo-Norman)

Etymology

From Early Medieval Latin grevem, alteration of Latin gravem.

Noun

grief oblique singular, m (oblique plural griés, nominative singular griés, nominative plural grief)

  1. pain; anguish; suffering

Descendants

  • French: grief
  • → Middle Dutch: grief
  • → Middle English: greef, gref

Adjective

grief m (oblique and nominative feminine singular grieve)

  1. sad
    • late 12th century, anonymous author, “La Folie de Tristan d'Oxford”, in Le Roman de Tristan, Champion Classiques edition, →ISBN, page 386, line 552:
      Mult ai le quer gref e marri.
      (please add an English translation of this quotation)

Descendants

  • French: grief (archaic, literary)
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