greave

greave · noun¹

1. Old English · inherited fromgrǣfe
2. Middle English · inherited fromgreve
3. English todaygreave

From Middle English greve, from Old English grǣfe, grǣfa (“bush, bramble, grove, thicket, copse, brush-wood (for burning), fuel”). Cognate with Scots greve, greave (“grove”). Compare also Proto-Germanic *grainiz (“twig”), of unknown origin, whence Old Norse grein (“branch, bough”). Closely related to Old English grāf, grāfa (“grove”). See grove.

greave · noun²

1. Proto-Indo-European · derived from*gʰrebʰ-“to dig, scratch, scrape”
2. Proto-Germanic · inherited from*grēbō
3. Old English · inherited fromgrǣfa
4. Middle English · inherited fromgreve
5. English todaygreave

From Middle English greve, greyve, from Old English grǣfa, grēfa (“pit, cave, hole, grave, trench”), from Proto-Germanic *grēbō, an ablaut variant of to *grōbō (“pit, ditch”) (whence doublet of groove) , from Proto-Indo-European *gʰrebʰ- (“to dig, scratch, scrape”). Cognate with North Frisian groop (“pit, sewer, gutter”), Dutch groef (“pit, hole, gutter”), German Grube (“pit, hole”), Icelandic gröf (“pit, grave”). Also related to grave.

greave · noun³

1. Frankish · derived from*graban“to engrave”
2. Old French · derived fromgreve“shin”
3. Middle English · inherited fromgreve
4. English todaygreave

From Middle English greve, grayve, from Old French greve (“shin”), of uncertain origin; possibly from Egyptian Arabic جورب (“stocking, leg cover”). Watkins suggests a connection with greve (“part in the hair”), due to the resemblance of the medial ridge to a part in the hair, from graver (“to part (the hair); engrave”), of Germanic origin, from Frankish *graban (“to engrave”); if so, related to Etymology 2 above.

greave · verb⁴

Back-formation from greaves (“residue left after animal fat has been rendered”).

Words from the same roots