Grin
verbTo smile broadly, showing the teeth, usually from amusement or pleasure.
How to spell grin
4 letters · 1 syllable
How to pronounce grin
What does grin mean?
- verbTo smile broadly, showing the teeth, usually from amusement or pleasure.
- nounA broad smile that shows the teeth.
Grin in a sentence
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verb
He could not help but grin when he opened the surprise present.
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noun
A wide grin spread across his face as the team scored.
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verb
The children grin at the camera whenever a photo is taken.
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noun
She answered every question with a confident grin.
Where does grin come from?
Language of origin: Germanic
Grin comes from the Old English verb grennian, which meant to bare the teeth, often in pain, anger, or a snarl rather than pleasure. It belongs to a wider Germanic family that includes the Old High German grennan and is related to the Old Norse grenja, meaning to howl or roar. For centuries the word carried unpleasant overtones, describing the drawn-back lips of a fierce animal or a grimace of suffering, and only gradually softened into the friendly, broad smile we mean today. The shift from a hostile baring of teeth to a cheerful expression took hold in English over the medieval and early modern periods. Because the word is short and phonetically regular, its only spelling pitfall is whether the final consonant doubles, and it does not: a single n is all that is needed.
How the word is built
- grin (a single Old English root; no prefix or suffix)
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