Etymology

gravy

G2R1A1V4Y4

Today it means: A dark savoury sauce prepared from stock and usually meat juices; brown gravy. Full definition →

Middle English gravey
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The story

  1. Middle English · inherited fromgravey
  2. English todaygravy

From Middle English gravey, greavie, gravy; probably from greaves, graves (“the sediment of melted tallow”), or from Old French grave, a claimed misspelling of grané (“stew, spice”), from grain (“spice”). Sense of "pasta sauce" apparently seems to be from Italian dialect, especially Calabrian, differentiating tomato puree (salsa (“sauce”)) from cooked tomato sauce (sugo).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.