granola

Etymology

It was coined as a trademark,^[2][3][4][5] formed from English gran- + -ola, the first part standing for grain or for granular, with the commercial suffix -ola.^[2][6][7] Barnhart and Etymonline instead take the first part as probably Italian grano (“grain”).^[8][9] The suffix -ola probably comes from pianola.^[9] The OED notes that “Granũla”, registered in 1876 by Austin Jackson & Co. of Dansville, New York, for cooked granulated wheat, was a different product.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

With a capital initial, a proprietary name for a breakfast cereal devised by W. K. Kellogg, made of wheat, oats and cornmeal baked and ground: 1886, in the Trade Marks Journal.^[2] Etymonline gives the same year for its registration by Kellogg.^[9] Dictionary.com dates the word to 1870–75.^[10]

Semantic evolution

The trademark was in use until the early 20th century; the OED's last record of it is from 1928, and the name was cancelled.^[2][9] The word seems not to have been used generally until the second half of the 20th century,^[2] when it was revived for a toasted mixture of rolled oats, nuts, dried fruit and other "natural" ingredients: Etymonline records it by 1967, and the OED, Barnhart and Merriam-Webster Unabridged from 1970.^[9][2][8][5] From 1975 granola was also used allusively for people seen as living a hippie or alternative lifestyle, often as an adjective;^[2][6] in American campus slang, from 1982, a granola is such a person, someone who eats health foods and loves the outdoors.^[11]

Timeline

• 1886 – Granola, a trademark for Kellogg's breakfast cereal (obsolete by 1928).^[2][9]
• 1970 – a toasted mixture of oats, nuts and dried fruit eaten as a breakfast cereal or snack.^[2][5][8] Etymonline records it by 1967.^[9]
• 1975 – used of people with a hippie or alternative lifestyle, often as an adjective.^[2]
• 1982 – in American campus slang, a person who eats health foods and loves nature.^[11]

Meanings

Noun

1. A mixture of rolled oats with ingredients such as nuts, raisins, coconut and brown sugar, usually toasted and eaten for breakfast or as a snack: She sprinkled granola over her yogurt.^[5][4][2]
2. (US slang) A person who leads a natural, health-conscious life, often an environmentalist; used disparagingly of someone with a hippie lifestyle.^[11][2]

Adjective

1. Of people: having liberal or green views and an alternative, health-conscious way of life.^[6][2]

Related words

• grain
• granular
• pianola

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
4. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
5. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b c Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
9. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
10. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
11. ^ a b c Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com