Etymology

grim

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Today it means: Dismal and gloomy, cold and forbidding. Full definition →

Middle English grim ← Old English grimm ← Proto-West Germanic *grimm
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grim · adjective, verb, noun1

  1. Proto-Indo-European · derived from*gʰrem-“to resound, thunder, grumble, roar”
  2. Proto-Germanic · inherited from*grimmaz
  3. Proto-West Germanic · inherited from*grimm
  4. Old English · inherited fromgrimm
  5. Middle English · inherited fromgrim
  6. English todaygrim

From Middle English grim, from Old English grimm, from Proto-West Germanic *grimm, from Proto-Germanic *grimmaz, from Proto-Indo-European *gʰrem- (“to resound, thunder, grumble, roar”).

grim · noun2

  1. Proto-Indo-European · derived from*gʰrem-“to resound, thunder, grumble, roar”
  2. Proto-Germanic · inherited from*grimmį̄“anger, wrath”
  3. Old English · inherited from*grimu
  4. Middle English · inherited fromgrim
  5. English todaygrim

From Middle English grim, grym, greme, from Old English *grimu, *grimmu, grima, from Proto-Germanic *grimmį̄ (“anger, wrath”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʰrem- (“to resound, thunder, grumble, roar”). Cognate with Middle Dutch grimme, Middle High German grimme f (“anger”), modern German Grimm m.

Grim · proper noun3

Probably derived from Old English *Grīm, Old Norse Grímr (literally “masked person”).

Words from the same roots

Middle Englishgrim all →

grime

Proto-West Germanic*grimm all →

Grimaldo

Proto-Indo-European*gʰrem- all →

grumgramegroundly

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.