Etymology

groan

G2R1O1A1N1

Today it means: A low, mournful sound uttered in pain or grief. Full definition →

Middle English gronen ← Old English grānian ← Proto-West Germanic *grainōn
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The story

  1. Middle English · inherited fromgron
  2. Proto-Germanic · derived from*grīnaną“to whine; howl; whimper”
  3. Proto-Germanic · inherited from*grainōną“to howl; weep”
  4. Proto-West Germanic · inherited from*grainōn
  5. Old English · inherited fromgrānian“to groan; lament; murmur”
  6. Middle English · inherited fromgronen
  7. English todaygroan

From Middle English gronen, granen, from Old English grānian (“to groan; lament; murmur”), from Proto-West Germanic *grainōn, from Proto-Germanic *grainōną (“to howl; weep”), from Proto-Germanic *grīnaną (“to whine; howl; whimper”). Cognate with Scots grain (“to cry, scream”), Dutch grijnen, grienen (“to cry; sob; blubber”), German Low German grienen (“to whimper; mewl”), German greinen (“to whine; whimper”), Swedish grina (“to howl; weep; laugh”). The noun is from Middle English gron, grone, from the verb.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.