grass English · revision 5546

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=inherited|attested=c. 725|origins=gem-pro *grasą}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: UK /ɡrɑːs/, US /ɡræs/^(Roach et al. 2011)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|enm|gras]], [[inh|ang|græs]] (also gærs, “herb, plant, grass”),^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988)^(Hoad 1986) from [[gem-pro|*grasą]],^(Etymonline)^(Hoad 1986) also the source of Old Frisian gers, Dutch and German Gras and Gothic gras.^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988) Watkins traces it to [[ine-pro|*gʰreh₁-|alt=*ghre-|t=to grow, become green]], which would relate it to [[grow]] and [[green]];^(Etymonline)^(Cresswell 2021)^(NODE 1998) Boutkan considers Latin grāmen “grass” the only reliable cognate and proposes a substrate origin.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Herbage in general, about 725, in Genesis A.^(OED 1989)^(Barnhart 1988) The compound græsgrēne “grass-green” is earlier.^(Barnhart 1988)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ A small herb or medicinal plant is from 1297, now obsolete.^(OED 1989) Grassy ground and pasture are from the 13th and 15th centuries.^(Hoad 1986) A plant of the grass family as opposed to cereals is from 1548, and in botany from 1611.^(OED 1989) ''Grass widow'' first meant, in the early 16th century, an unmarried woman with a child, and in the 19th a wife whose husband is away.^(Cresswell 2021)^(Hoad 1986) ''The grass is always greener'' developed in the United States in the late 19th century.^(Cresswell 2021) ''Keep off the grass'' is from 1843.^(Etymonline) Slang “marijuana” is American, from 1932 in Etymonline and 1943 in the OED.^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989) An informer is British slang from 1929, probably rhyming slang (grasshopper, copper), and the verb, to inform, also from 1929.^(GDoS)^(Dalzell 2013)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 725 – herbage, in Genesis A.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1548 – a plant of the grass family.^(OED 1989)

+ * early 16th century – ''grass widow''.^(Cresswell 2021)

+ * 1929 – an informer (British slang).^(GDoS)

+ * 1932 – marijuana.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # Plants with long, narrow green leaves that cover lawns, fields and the like.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # Any plant of the family that includes [[cereal|alt=cereals]], [[bamboo]] and the like.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # Ground covered with grass; a [[lawn]] or [[pasture]].^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # ''(slang)'' [[marijuana]].^(AHD)^(COED 2004)

+ # ''(British slang)'' A police informer.^(COED 2004)^(Dalzell 2013)

+

+ ===Verb===

+ # To cover with grass.^(AHD)^(COED 2004)

+ # ''(British slang, often grass on)'' To inform the police about someone.^(COED 2004)^(GDoS)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[grassless]]

+ * [[grasslike]]

+ * [[grassward]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[grasshopper]]

+ * [[grassy]]

+ * [[green]]

+ * [[grow]]

+ * [[graze]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}