Grinning

How to spell grinning

8 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce grinning

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does grinning mean?

1. verbSmiling broadly, often showing the teeth, in present participle form.

Grinning in a sentence

• The toddler kept grinning at the camera throughout the photo session.

• He walked out of the interview grinning with relief.

Where does grinning come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

This word goes back to the Old English verb grennian, which meant to draw back the lips and bare the teeth, often in a snarl rather than a happy smile. In its earliest centuries the gesture was closer to a grimace, the look of an animal showing its fangs or a person twisting the face in pain or anger, and only gradually did it soften into the broad cheerful smile we picture today. The Old English word has cousins across the Germanic family, including the Old High German grennan, all sharing the idea of pulling the mouth wide and showing the teeth. The spelling trap lives in the suffix: because grin ends in a single vowel followed by a single consonant with stress on that syllable, the n doubles before -ing, giving grinning rather than grining. The same doubling rule shapes relatives such as running and beginning, which is a useful pattern to remember when this word is in doubt.

How the word is built

• grin (from Old English grennian: to bare the teeth)
• -n- (doubled consonant)
• -ing (present participle suffix)