Etymology and origin of the English word gram
Pronunciation
- /ɡræm/[1]
gram1 unit of mass
- Confidence
- Established
- Formation
- Borrowing
- First attested
- 1797, gramme
- Borrowed from
- French gramme
- Ultimate origin
- Ancient Greek γράμμα
From the same root · gram1
Etymology
It is borrowed from French gramme,[2][3][4][5][6] from Late Latin gramma (“a small weight”),[2][3][7] from Ancient Greek γράμμα (grámma, “something written, a letter; a small weight”),[2][3][8][9] from the stem of γράφω (gráphō, “to draw, write”).[3][7][10] The Greek noun is also the source of grammar and of the suffix -gram.[9][8] The French word was adopted for the basic unit of weight in the metric system in 1799;[9][2] Etymonline notes that English took it up about two years before the unit was fixed by French law.[2]
Earliest recorded meaning
The metric unit of weight: 1797, spelled gramme,[3][2][11] in the late 18th century in the Shorter Oxford and the Oxford Dictionary of English.[12][6] Merriam-Webster's first known use is 1810.[7]
Semantic evolution
It was first defined as the weight of a cubic centimetre of distilled water at its greatest density, and is now defined as a thousandth of a kilogram.[12][7] The French spelling gramme is still used in British English beside gram,[12][13] which is the usual form in American English.[13] Compounds such as gram atom and gram calorie were formed in chemistry and physics.[10][12]
Timeline
Modern meaning
Noun
- A metric unit of mass equal to one thousandth of a kilogram: Add 200 grams of flour.
- The weight of such a mass under standard gravity.
Word family
- kilogram
- milligram
- microgram
- centigram
gram2 chickpea
- Confidence
- Established
- Formation
- Borrowing
- First attested
- 1702
- Borrowed from
- Portuguese grão
- Ultimate origin
- Latin grānum
From the same root · gram2
Etymology
It is borrowed from Portuguese grão (“grain, seed, chickpea”), formerly sometimes written gram,[4][7][12][14] inherited from Latin grānum (“grain, seed”),[4][7][8] the source of grain.[4][8]
Earliest recorded meaning
The chickpea, also called Bengal gram: 1702, in a record from Madras,[4][11][7] the early 18th century in the Shorter Oxford.[12]
Semantic evolution
The name was extended to other kinds of pulse grown in the Indian subcontinent and used as food for horses and people,[4][12] such as black gram, green gram (the mung bean) and horse gram.[12][7] Attributive uses such as gram-fed and gram field are recorded from 1799, in the Duke of Wellington's dispatches from India.[4]
Timeline
Modern meaning
Noun
- The chickpea, or any of several other leguminous plants grown, especially in South Asia, for their seeds; the seeds themselves.
Word family
- Bengal gram
- black gram
- green gram
- horse gram
gram3 grandmother
- Confidence
- Established
- Formation
- Clipping
- First attested
- 1923, Washington Post
Etymology
It is a shortening of gramma, a variant of grandma.[4][7][5]
Earliest recorded meaning
One's grandmother, usually as a form of address or a title before a name: 1923, in the Washington Post;[4][11] Merriam-Webster dates it to about 1934.[7]
Semantic evolution
The word has kept the familiar, affectionate use of grandma, and is used chiefly in speech and family writing.[4][7]
Timeline
Modern meaning
Noun
- (informal) A grandmother: We spent the summer at Gram's farm.
Related words
Usage notes
Two further clippings are spelled the same: gram for telegram or cablegram, recorded from 1891, and gram for gramophone, from 1959.[4][12] The Gram stain and the adjectives Gram-positive and Gram-negative come instead from the name of the Danish bacteriologist Hans Christian Gram, who developed the staining method in 1884.[4][12] In Scottish and Northumbrian dialect gram or grame meant anger or passion, a word the English Dialect Dictionary derives from Old Norse.[15]
References
- ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
- ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
- ^ a b c d e f Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
- ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
- ^ a b Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
- ^ a b c d Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
- ^ a b c Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
- ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
- ^ a b c Kay, Christian; Roberts, Jane; Samuels, Michael; Wotherspoon, Irené, eds. (2009), Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford: Oxford University Press; online edition (2024)
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
- ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
- ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- ^ 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)
Related etymologies
Cite this entry
“Gram.” Etymologically, 22 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/en/gram. Accessed 23 Oct. 2026.
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