Etymologically
Log in

grêle

History Permalink

Etymology and origin of the French word grêle

grêle1 hail

Confidence
Probable
Formation
Back-formation
First attested
1075–1100
Ultimate origin
Frankish *grisilōn

Pronunciation

Forms

grêle f (plural grêles)[1] Old French gresle; the spelling grêle dates from the 17th century.[2][3]

Etymology

The word for hail is a back-formation from French grêler “to hail”.[2][3][4] That verb, Old French gresler, is traced by Bloch and Wartburg and the TLFi to Frankish *grisilōn (“to hail”), attested in Middle Dutch griselen;[5][6][7] the Frankish word drove out Latin grandō (“hail”) and grandinō (“to hail”) in Gaul.[5][3] Rey gives this explanation with reservations, and reports that Pierre Guiraud rejects the Germanic origin and links the verb with Old French grêler (“to sift”), from a Vulgar Latin *cratella (“sieve”) formed on Latin crātis (“wickerwork, hurdle”).[3][2]

Littré cites Picard grieu and Old Occitan gressa; he reports that Diez connected the word with grésil, and rejects Du Cange's derivation from Latin gracilis.[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

Gresle is first found at the end of the 11th century for hail.[2][3] In Chrétien de Troyes' Yvain the clouds throw down rain, snow and gresle all together.[8]

Semantic evolution

Already in the 12th century the word was used figuratively for a shower of things falling thick and fast, first of arrows (about 1150);[3] Littré quotes a 13th-century line in which arrows and darts fly as thick as hail in March.[8] The modern une grêle de “a hail of” (blows, bullets, insults) continues this use, recorded in the 16th century by Agrippa d'Aubigné and figuratively by Balzac in 1835.[4][9]

Older phrases made hail a picture of ruin: a wicked man was pire que grêle, and la grêle est tombée sur vos vignes meant a heavy loss.[8] In medicine the word named a small tumour of the eyelid, the chalazion, for its likeness to a hailstone;[8] Paré describes it in the 16th century.[8] Its derivatives are grêlon “hailstone” (before 1626), for which grêlot was also used (1661), and the rare grêleux.[3][6]

Timeline

  • Late 11th century – Gresle “hail” is recorded.[2][3]
  • c. 1119 – Philippe de Thaon uses gresle.[4]
  • c. 1150 – First figurative use, of a shower of arrows.[3]
  • 1176–1181 – The verb gresler “to hail” appears in Chrétien de Troyes.[6]
  • 16th century – Paré uses gresle for a tumour of the eyelid.[8]
  • Late 16th century – Grêle “a mass of things falling thickly” in Agrippa d'Aubigné.[4]
  • 17th century – The spelling grêle appears.[3][4]
  • Before 1626 – The derivative greslon “hailstone” is recorded.[6]

Meanings

Noun

  1. hail: precipitation in the form of pellets of ice.[9][4]
  2. (figurative) A hail or shower of things falling on someone: une grêle de coups, une grêle de balles.[9][4]
  3. (medicine, dated) A chalazion, a small swelling of the eyelid.[8]

Word family

  • grêlon
  • grêleux

grêle2 slender; high-pitched

Confidence
Established
Formation
Inherited
First attested
c. 1100 Chanson de Roland
Inherited from
Latin gracilis via Old French
Ultimate origin
Latin gracilis
Etymology tree of grêle2
inherited borrowed derived
Latin gracilis
French grêle

Pronunciation

Forms

grêle (plural grêles)[1] Old French graisle, greille and grelle;[3][8][6] grêle is a 13th-century remaking of the older forms.[3][8][6]

Etymology

The adjective for slender is inherited from Old French graisle, inherited from Latin gracilis (“slender, thin”).[6][3][5][10] Littré notes that the Latin word was stressed on its first syllable.[8] The same Latin word was later borrowed as gracile, which has an idea of graceful frailty that the adjective lacks.[6][3]

Cognate with Walloon grêie, Old Occitan graile and Italian gracile.[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found as graisle “slender” in the Chanson de Roland (about 1100): a man is graisles es flans, narrow in the flanks, and broad in the ribs.[6][8]

Semantic evolution

The adjective has kept the Latin sense of thin, long and slim.[3] It was applied very early to sound: Old French graisle was also a noun for a kind of clarion in the Chanson de Roland, and soner en grelle meant to sound a horn on its high note (about 1150);[6][3] the adjective for a high, weak voice is recorded in Oresme (1370–1372).[6]

In anatomy intestin grêle “small intestine”, named in contrast to gros intestin, dates from Furetière in 1690.[6][3] Technical derivatives keep the idea of thinness: grêler “to draw out into a ribbon” (1757), grêloir (1700) and the sea term grelin, a rope thinner than a cable (greslin before 1529).[3]

Timeline

  • c. 1100 – Graisle “slender” and the noun graisle “clarion” in the Chanson de Roland.[6][3]
  • c. 1150 – Soner en grelle “to sound a horn on the high note” in the Charroi de Nîmes.[6]
  • c. 1190 – The form greille.[3]
  • 1370–1372 – Oresme speaks of a voix grelle, a high and weak voice.[6]
  • 1690 – Furetière records intestin grêle.[6]
  • 1757 – The derivative grêler “to draw out thin” appears in the Encyclopédie.[2][3]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Long and very thin, slender to excess: des jambes grêles.[9][6]
  2. (of a person or body) Excessively thin, spindly, puny.[6][8]
  3. (of a sound or voice) High-pitched and weak, thin.[9][6]
  4. (anatomy) Intestin grêle: the small intestine, also le grêle as a noun.[9][6]

Word family

  • grelin

Usage notes

The two words are pronounced alike but have different origins: la grêle “hail” comes from the verb grêler, and the adjective grêle “slender” from Latin gracilis.[2][9]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  4. ^ a b c d e f g Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
  5. ^ a b c Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t Trésor de la langue française informatisé (2004), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/tlfi; electronic version of Imbs, Paul; Quemada, Bernard, eds. (1971–1994), Trésor de la langue française, Paris: CNRS / Gallimard
  7. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 16, 84a
  8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
  9. ^ a b c d e f g Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  10. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 4, 201b

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Grêle.” Etymologically, 14 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/fr/gr%C3%AAle. Accessed 15 Nov. 2026.

Last edited on . ·