Grizzly

How to spell grizzly

7 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce grizzly

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does grizzly mean?

1. nounA large North American brown bear with brownish fur tipped with grey.

Grizzly in a sentence

• The hikers were warned that a grizzly had been spotted near the trail.

• The wildlife park keeps a grizzly in a large enclosure with a stream.

Where does grizzly come from?

Language of origin: French

Grizzly traces back to the Old French word gris, meaning 'grey', which itself came from a Germanic source related to the same colour. In English this gave rise to the verb and noun grizzle, used from the late Middle Ages for hair that was turning grey or for a greyish mixture. Adding the suffix -y produced the adjective grizzly, meaning 'streaked with grey' or 'greyish', recorded from the 1500s. The North American bear took its name from this colouring: its brown coat is tipped with pale, silvery hairs, giving it a frosted, grizzled look, and by the early 1800s 'grizzly bear' was the settled name. It is worth keeping grizzly firmly separate from its near-twins grisly (meaning gruesome or horrifying) and gristly (full of gristle); only grizzly carries the idea of grey and is the spelling of the bear.

How the word is built

• grizzl- (from grizzle: to make or become grey, from Old French gris 'grey')
• -y (adjective/noun suffix)