grime

Etymology

The noun is of uncertain origin.^[2][3] Most likely it is inherited from Middle English grim (“dirt, filth”) in an altered form, recorded about 1300 in “Havelok the Dane”,^[2][3][4] borrowed from Middle Low German greme (“dirt”) or another Low German source.^[2][3] Merriam-Webster, Collins and Klein give Middle Dutch grīme (“soot, mask”) as the source, Merriam-Webster and Klein through Dutch grijm in Flemish;^[5][6][7] the OED compares the Flemish noun and verb, Low German gremen (“to blacken, dirty”) and Dutch begremen, recorded by Kilian.^[8] The verb, Middle English grimen, is recorded from the 15th century,^[8][2][9] and Hoad and Weekley take the noun as formed from it.^[10][11] The same Germanic word is Old English grīma (“mask, helmet”), Old Norse gríma (“mask, hood”), Old Saxon grīma (“mask”) and Old High German grīmo (“mask”),^[5][12][13] from Proto-Germanic *grīmô;^[13][12] Weekley thought the mask was originally a blackened face,^[11] and Dictionary.com sees the English word as a special use of the Old English one for a layer of dust.^[14] Outside Germanic it is related to Lithuanian griẽti (“to skim off cream”) and Ancient Greek χρῖμα (khrîma, “unguent, oil”),^[12][13][5] from Proto-Indo-European *ghrei- (“to rub”).^[3][15][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Dirt or filth, as Middle English grim, about 1300.^[2][3] The verb, to blacken or befoul, is recorded in 1483 in the Catholicon Anglicum,^[8] and Barnhart finds it about 1475, with an earlier figurative sense "to punish, make unhappy" before 1450.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The verb was largely replaced in the early 16th century by begrime.^[3][2] The modern noun appears in 1590, in Shakespeare's Comedy of Errors,^[2] which Johnson quoted when he defined it as dirt "deeply insinuated" and not easily cleaned;^[16] the OED's first record is from 1612.^[8] In Scottish and northern dialects it also meant a flake of soot or a black smudge.^[17] In 2003 grime was first recorded as the name of a genre of popular music from east London, influenced by UK garage and hip-hop.^[8][6]

Timeline

• c. 1300 – Middle English grim, dirt, filth, in Havelok the Dane.^[2][3]
• 1483 – verb, to cover with grime, blacken.^[8]
• 1590 – noun, soot or dirt ingrained in a surface, in Shakespeare.^[2] The OED's first record is from 1612.^[8]
• 2003 – a genre of popular music from east London.^[8]

Meanings

Noun

1. Dirt, soot or filth stuck firmly to a surface or worked deep into it: the grime on the factory windows.^[5][6][8]
2. Broadly, a general dirtiness and squalor.^[5]
3. A genre of popular music from east London that combines elements of garage, hip-hop and rap.^[6][8]

Verb

1. To make dirty, or to coat with grime.^[6][5][8]

Word family

• grimy
• begrime

Related words

• grimace
• chrism

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ Stratmann, Francis Henry (1891), A Middle-English Dictionary, revised by Henry Bradley, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b c d e Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
7. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
11. ^ a b Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
12. ^ a b c Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill
13. ^ a b c Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill
14. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
15. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
16. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
17. ^ 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)