grainy

Etymology

It is formed from English grain + -y.^{[2][3][4][5][6]} Grain is from Old French grain, also grein, from Latin grānum (“grain, seed”).^[7][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Consisting of or resembling grains: Merriam-Webster Unabridged dates this sense to the 15th century and the Shorter Oxford the word to late Middle English.^[4][5] The OED's first record is in Cotgrave's French–English dictionary (1611),^[2] and Etymonline dates it to the 1610s.^[3]

Semantic evolution

In Middle English grain itself was used as an adjective, "like grain, lumpy, spotted", in the early 15th century.^[3] Johnson (1755) gave grainy the senses "full of corn" and "full of grains or kernels",^[8] and the OED takes its sense "full of grain or corn" from his dictionary.^[2] From 1858 it also described a surface like the grain of wood,^[2] from 1900 a photograph with a mottled look caused by large grains of silver,^[3][4] and since 1963 a rough voice or sound.^[2][5] In Devon and Cornwall dialect grainy meant cross-grained, ill-tempered or haughty, and in Cornwall also miserly; in south Pembrokeshire it meant well-fed.^[9]

Timeline

• 15th century – consisting of or resembling grains.^[4][5]
• 1755 – full of grain or corn.^[2][8]
• 1858 – resembling the grain of wood.^[2]
• 1900 – of a photograph, showing grain.^[3]
• 1963 – of a voice or sound, rough.^[2]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Made of or like small grains; granular: The sauce turned grainy when it boiled.^[10][4][2]
2. Having a marked grain, like that of wood or leather.^[10][4][2]
3. Of a photograph or film, having a mottled look and poor definition because of large grain particles.^[10][4]
4. Of a voice or sound, rough or gritty.^[2][5]
5. Full of grain or corn.^[2][5][8]

Word family

• graininess

Related words

• grain
• granular
• granule

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e f g Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ a b c d e f Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
7. ^ Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
8. ^ a b c Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
9. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
10. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins