Meanings
GRU1
plural GRUs
- abbreviationinitialismartificial intelligenceInitialism of gated recurrent unit.
GRU2
- The Main Intelligence Directorate — the Soviet and then the Russian military intelligence agency.
Apparently nobody ever expects the GRU, Russian Military Intelligence.
2020, Ben Aaronovitch, False Value, Gollancz, page 1151 more example
A team of investigators claim to have unmasked a deep-cover spy from Russia’s military intelligence agency, the GRU, who spent a decade posing as a Latin American jewellery designer and partied with Nato staff based in Naples.
2022 August 26, Shaun Walker, “Socialite who charmed Nato staff in Naples was Russian spy, say investigators”, in The Guardian
Origin
- RussianГРУ
- EnglishGRU
From Russian ГРУ (GRU), through phonetic transliteration of Гла́вное Разве́дывательное Управле́ние (Glávnoje Razvédyvatelʹnoje Upravlénije) and acronymizing.
More words from Russian
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Chinese Mandarin 格魯烏 /格鲁乌
- 格魯烏 /格鲁乌 (Gélǔwū)Soviet and Russian GRU
Polish GRU
- GRUSoviet and Russian GRU
Russian ГРУ
- ГРУ (GRU)Soviet and Russian GRU
Ukrainian ГРУ
- ГРУ (HRU)Soviet and Russian GRU
Rhymes & wordplay
Anagrams
Cite this entry
GRU. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/GRU
“GRU.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/GRU. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “GRU,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/GRU.
Source: GRU on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.