Grams

How to spell grams

5 letters · 1 syllable

How to pronounce grams

What does grams mean?

1. nounPlural of gram, the basic metric unit of mass equal to one thousandth of a kilogram.

Grams in a sentence

• The recipe calls for two hundred grams of flour.

• The postage depends on how many grams the parcel weighs.

Where does grams come from?

Language of origin: Greek

This word is the plural of 'gram', the basic metric unit of mass, and it traces back to the Greek 'gramma', which first meant a letter of the alphabet or a written character, from the verb 'graphein', meaning 'to write'. In later use the Greeks applied 'gramma' to a small unit of weight, roughly the weight of one such written mark or token, and Late Latin carried that weighing sense forward. French shortened it to 'gramme' during the metric reforms that followed the French Revolution in the 1790s, when scientists were building a rational, decimal system of measurement. English borrowed the French 'gramme' in the early nineteenth century, and the trimmer spelling 'gram' became standard, especially in North America. The same Greek root for writing survives openly in relatives like 'grammar', 'diagram', and 'telegram', which is a useful reminder that the metric weight and a written letter share one ancient ancestor.

How the word is built

• gram (unit of mass, from Greek gramma: a small weight)
• -s (plural)

British and American spelling

Grams is the American spelling. British English spells it grammes.