Grille

How to spell grille

6 letters · 1 syllable

How to pronounce grille

What does grille mean?

1. nounA framework of metal bars or wire that covers an opening, protecting it or letting air pass through.

Grille in a sentence

• A stone chip cracked the chrome grille on the front of the car.

• Warm air rises through the ventilation grille near the ceiling.

Where does grille come from?

Language of origin: French

The word arrived from French grille, meaning a grating or lattice, which descends from the Latin craticula, a diminutive of cratis meaning 'wickerwork' or 'a hurdle of woven branches'. The original idea was a screen made of crossing bars, much like the woven frames farmers once used. English borrowed the French spelling in the seventeenth century to describe metal latticework over windows, doors, and openings, and the very same Latin root also gave us 'grill' and 'griddle' for cooking on a barred frame. Modern English keeps the French final -e on 'grille' specifically to mean the protective screen or grating, while the bare 'grill' tends to cover cooking, which is the source of the constant spelling confusion. Whenever the meaning is a fixed metal screen rather than a cooking action, the silent -e is the form to reach for.

How the word is built

• grille (from French grille: grating, lattice)
• silent final -e marking the French origin

Words that sound like grille

They sound the same but mean different things, so the meaning decides which spelling to write.

• grill: To cook food using direct heat from above or below, as on metal bars or under a flame.