Etymograph

English

grim

Grim comes from Old English grimm ‘fierce, savage, terrible, cruel, angry’, and perhaps goes back to Proto-Indo-European *gʰrem- ‘to resound, thunder, grumble, roar’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*gʰrem-1‘to resound, thunder, grumble, roar’uncertain
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*grimmaz1‘grim, grimly, fierce’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*grimm1‘grim, angry’reconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150grimm1‘fierce, savage, terrible, cruel, angry’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500grim1
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1535grim1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English grim
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1535, Myles Coverdale: “The LORDE shall be grymme vpon them, and destroye…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*gʰrem-Wiktionary, English grim‘to resound, thunder, grumble, roar’uncertain
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*grimmazWiktionary, English grim‘grim, grimly, fierce’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*grimmWiktionary, English grim‘grim, angry’reconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150grimmWiktionary, English grim‘fierce, savage, terrible, cruel, angry’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500grimWiktionary, English grim
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1535grimWiktionary, English grim. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1535, Myles Coverdale: “The LORDE shall be grymme vpon them, and destroye…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *gʰrem- ‘to resound, thunder, grumble, roar’

ground, groin, grunting, pogrom, 5 more

Today it means

adj Dismal and gloomy, cold and forbidding.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “grim”. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *gʰrem- / grim

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