Grains

How to spell grains

6 letters · 1 syllable

How to pronounce grains

What does grains mean?

1. nounThe small hard seeds of cereal plants such as wheat, rice, oats or barley.
2. nounTiny loose particles of a substance such as sand, salt or sugar.

Grains in a sentence

• The farmer stored the harvested grains in a tall silo.

• A few grains of sand had worked their way into her shoe.

• Whole grains provide more fibre than refined flour.

• Add only a few grains of salt to balance the sweetness.

Where does grains come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word descends from the Latin granum, which simply meant 'a seed' or 'a single kernel'. It travelled into English through Old French grain during the medieval period, keeping its core sense of the small hard seeds of cereal plants such as wheat, barley and rice. Over time the meaning widened from edible seeds to any tiny loose particle, so we speak of grains of sand, salt or sugar, and even of the visible pattern of fibres running through wood or stone. The same granum root is hidden in a surprising family of relatives, including 'granary', 'granule', 'pomegranate' (literally a 'seeded apple') and even 'garner'. Because the spelling keeps the plain 'ai' from grain, the only real care needed is remembering it is grain and not the homophone-style 'grein'.

How the word is built

• grain (from Latin granum: seed)
• -s (plural suffix)