gripe

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English gripen (“to seize, grasp”),^[2][3][4] inherited from Old English grīpan (“to grasp at, lay hold of, seize”),^[5][6][7][8] a strong verb, inherited from Proto-Germanic *grīpaną.^[6][9][10] It is cognate with Old Saxon grīpan, Old Frisian grīpa, Old High German grīfan (modern German greifen), Dutch grijpen, Old Norse grípa and Gothic 𐌲𐍂𐌴𐌹𐍀𐌰𐌽 (greipan),^{[5][6][11][10]} and outside Germanic with Lithuanian griẽbti (“to seize”).^[10][5][12] Etymonline, following Watkins, derives it from Proto-Indo-European *gʰreib- (“to grip”), and calls the Germanic verb of uncertain origin.^[6][9] The weak forms came in during the 14th century, and the strong ones were obsolete before the 15th.^[5][13] It is related to grip and grope.^[11][14][13]

Earliest recorded meaning

In Old English, to grasp at, lay hold of, seize: Barnhart's first record is in Beowulf, about 725,^[15] and Bosworth-Toller quotes the poem.^[7] The Middle English verb is recorded from about 1150 in Barnhart;^[15] the OED's first record is the Ormulum, about 1175.^[5]

Semantic evolution

From grasping, the verb moved to the pain that seems to grip: "to grieve, afflict" from 1559, and in the noun the "pinch" of pain or grief from before 1547.^[5][6] The bowel pains came next: the noun gripes, colic, from 1601, and the verb, to cause such pains, from 1611.^[5][6][15] Johnson (1755) still gave the noun first as "grasp; hold", quoting Spenser.^[16] The modern sense "to complain" arose in American English: Barnhart and Etymonline date it to about 1932 and derive it from the bowel sense, comparing bellyache;^[15][6] the New Partridge has the verb from 1928 and the noun "a complaint" from 1918.^[17] Green's Dictionary of Slang records "to annoy, disgust" (it gripes me) from 1905 and derives the slang from the gripes of colic, "of which one complains".^[18]

Timeline

• Old English – grīpan, to grasp at, lay hold of, seize.^[15][7][5]
• c. 1175 – to clutch or grasp tightly.^[5]
• 1393 – noun, a grasp, clutch.^[5][15]
• before 1547 – noun, the pinch of pain or grief.^[5][6]
• 1559 – to grieve, afflict.^[5]
• 1601 – noun, spasmodic pains in the bowels, colic.^[5][6]
• 1611 – to cause griping pains in.^[5]
• 1905 – (slang) to annoy, disgust.^[18]
• 1918 – noun, a complaint (US).^[17] Barnhart and Etymonline date it to 1934.^[15][6]
• 1928 – to complain, grumble (US).^[17] Barnhart and Etymonline date it to about 1932.^[15][6]

Meanings

Verb

1. (informal) To complain persistently; to grumble: He griped about the cold all the way home.^[19][20]
2. To cause sharp spasmodic pains in the bowels; to suffer such pains.^[19][5]
3. (slang) To annoy or irritate.^[18][1]
4. (nautical) Of a ship, to tend to turn into the wind in spite of the helm.^[19]
5. (archaic) To seize, grasp or clutch.^[19][4][5]
6. (archaic) To afflict or distress.^[19][5]

Noun

1. A complaint or grievance.^[20][21][4]
2. Sharp, spasmodic pains in the bowels; colic, usually in the plural.^[20][21][5]
3. (archaic) A firm hold or grasp; control.^[21][5][4]
4. A handle or grip.^[20]

Word family

• griper
• gripeful
• gripingly
• gripey

Related words

• grip
• grope
• grippe

Usage notes

The obsolete noun gripe, a griffin or vulture, used from before 1250 to the 18th century, has a separate source: it is from Latin grȳps, the source of griffin.^[5][11][4] So does the nautical gripe, the timber at the forward end of a ship's keel, first spelled greepe, which is from Dutch greep.^[5][11]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
3. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
4. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ a b c Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement
8. ^ Holthausen, Ferdinand (1934), Altenglisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
9. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Germanisches Wörterbuch, 5th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
10. ^ a b c Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill
11. ^ a b c d Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
12. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
13. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
14. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
15. ^ a b c d e f g h Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
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. ^ a b c Dalzell, Tom; Victor, Terry, eds. (2013), The New Partridge Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English, 2nd ed., London: Routledge
18. ^ a b c Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
19. ^ a b c d e Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
20. ^ a b c d The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
21. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster