adj · name · noun · verb · 10 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot
Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.
Sound
Pronunciation
Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.
gro͞o
/ɡɹuː/
US:Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
rhymes with -uː
homophone: grew
CMU ARPABET:G R UW1
Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.
1
adj
Meaning 1
Of an object, green when first observed before a specified time or blue when first observed after that time.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: not-comparable
Topics: human-sciences, philosophy, sciences
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
2
adj
Meaning 2
Of a single color inclusive of both green and blue as different shades, used in translations from languages such as Old Welsh and Old Chinese that did not always distinguish between green and blue.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: not-comparable
Topics: human-sciences, linguistics, sciences
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
3
name
Meaning 3
A municipality of Innlandet, Norway, formerly part of the county of Hedmark.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
4
noun
Meaning 4
A shiver, a shudder.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: Scotland
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
5
noun
Meaning 5
Any byproduct of a gruesome event, such as gore, viscera, entrails, blood and guts.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: uncountable
Examples
The butcher was covered in the accumulated grue of a hard day's work
There was grue everywhere after the accident
1990, John DeChancie, Castle War! Incarnadine had to be quick with the sword. Huge wings flapped in time with explosions of grue, and the stink of burnt flesh and feathers filled the air.
2002, Carole Nelson Douglas, Chapel Noir http://print.google.com/print?hl=en&id=ZZu4sl0P1EAC&pg=PA336&lpg=PA336&sig=dPR0ntE54xw-h3m6fByM0fgJiuc “... She is quite agreeable to gruesome ghost stories, but appalled by the lust for life.” / “I admit that I am surprised by how well she handles sheer grue, better than I.”
2004, Talbot Mundy, Guns of the Gods http://print.google.com/print?hl=en&id=PUCcyz2L1iwC&pg=PA244&lpg=PA244&sig=REDDP_txW9FrUWEogxny6lZ4wUo “This is the grue,” said Dick, holding his lantern high. / Its light fell on a circle of skeletons, all perfect, each with its head toward a brass bowl in the center.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
6
noun
Meaning 6
A fictional man-eating predator that dwells in the dark.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
7
noun
Meaning 7
The property of being green when first observed before a specified time or blue when first observed after that time.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: uncountable
Topics: human-sciences, philosophy, sciences
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
8
noun
Meaning 8
A single color inclusive of both green and blue as different shades, used in translations from languages such as Old Welsh and Old Chinese that did not always distinguish between green and blue.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: uncountable
Topics: human-sciences, linguistics, sciences
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
9
noun
Meaning 9
Nutraloaf, a bland mixture of foods served in prisons.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: slang, uncountable
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
10
verb
Meaning 10
To be frightened; also, to shudder with fear; to quake, to tremble.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: Scotland, intransitive
Qualifier: archaic except Northern England
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
History
Etymology
Blend of green + blue. The philosophy sense was coined by American philosopher Nelson Goodman in 1955 to illustrate concepts in the philosophy of science. The linguistic sense was coined by American linguist Paul Kay in 1975 as a translation from languages such as Welsh that have a basic cover term that covers both the hues called "green" and "blue" in English.
From Middle English gruen, probably from Middle Low German gruwen or Middle Dutch gruwen (compare Dutch gruwen), both from Proto-Germanic *grūwijaną, perhaps ultimately an imitative derivative of Proto-Indo-European *ǵhers- (“to bristle”), or instead from *gher- (“to rub, stroke, grind”).
Back-formation from gruesome.
Probably from gruesome; first used in Jack Vance's Dying Earth universe in the 1940s, but popularized by the text-based computer game Zork in 1980.
Across languages
Translations
42 source translations are retained for this English entry.
Dutch:
bloen
— philosophy: of an object that is first green, then blue
French:
blert
— philosophy: of an object that is first green, then blue
German:
blün
— philosophy: of an object that is first green, then blue
Greek:
πρασινογάλαζος
(prasinogálazos)
— philosophy: of an object that is first green, then blue
White Hmong:
xiav
— philosophy: of an object that is first green, then blue
Japanese:
グルー
— philosophy: of an object that is first green, then blue
Portuguese:
verzul
— philosophy: of an object that is first green, then blue
Portuguese:
verul
— philosophy: of an object that is first green, then blue
Chambeali:
𑚝𑚯𑚥𑚭
(nīlā)
— linguistics: green or blue in languages that do not distinguish the two colors
Chinali:
𑚝𑚯𑚥𑚭
(nīlā)
— linguistics: green or blue in languages that do not distinguish the two colors
Chinese Mandarin:
青
— linguistics: green or blue in languages that do not distinguish the two colors
Dutch:
bloen
— linguistics: green or blue in languages that do not distinguish the two colors
Egyptian:
wAD-D:Y1
(wꜣḏ)
— linguistics: green or blue in languages that do not distinguish the two colors
French:
blert
— linguistics: green or blue in languages that do not distinguish the two colors
German:
blün
— linguistics: green or blue in languages that do not distinguish the two colors
Greek:
πρασινογάλαζος
(prasinogálazos)
— linguistics: green or blue in languages that do not distinguish the two colors
Greek:
γαλαζοπράσινος
(galazoprásinos)
— linguistics: green or blue in languages that do not distinguish the two colors
White Hmong:
xiav
— linguistics: green or blue in languages that do not distinguish the two colors
Japanese:
青い
(aoi)
— linguistics: green or blue in languages that do not distinguish the two colors
Kaingang:
tánh
— linguistics: green or blue in languages that do not distinguish the two colors
Korean:
푸르다
(pureuda)
— linguistics: green or blue in languages that do not distinguish the two colors
Ladakhi:
སྔོན་པོ
(sngon po)
— linguistics: green or blue in languages that do not distinguish the two colors
Lakota:
tȟó
— linguistics: green or blue in languages that do not distinguish the two colors
Māori:
namu
— linguistics: green or blue in languages that do not distinguish the two colors
Mopan Maya:
yaʼax
— linguistics: green or blue in languages that do not distinguish the two colors
Northern Ndebele:
-luhlaza
— linguistics: green or blue in languages that do not distinguish the two colors
Old Tupi:
obý
— linguistics: green or blue in languages that do not distinguish the two colors
Portuguese:
verzul
— linguistics: green or blue in languages that do not distinguish the two colors
Portuguese:
verul
— linguistics: green or blue in languages that do not distinguish the two colors
Russian:
зи́ний
(zínij)
— linguistics: green or blue in languages that do not distinguish the two colors
Spanish:
verdiazul
— linguistics: green or blue in languages that do not distinguish the two colors
Spanish:
azul verde
— linguistics: green or blue in languages that do not distinguish the two colors
Tahitian:
ninamu
— linguistics: green or blue in languages that do not distinguish the two colors
Thai:
เขียว
(kǐao)
— linguistics: green or blue in languages that do not distinguish the two colors
Classical Tibetan:
སྔོན་པོ
(sngon po)
— linguistics: green or blue in languages that do not distinguish the two colors
Tswana:
tala
— linguistics: green or blue in languages that do not distinguish the two colors
Vietnamese:
xanh
— linguistics: green or blue in languages that do not distinguish the two colors
Welsh:
glas
— linguistics: green or blue in languages that do not distinguish the two colors
Xhosa:
-luhlaza
— linguistics: green or blue in languages that do not distinguish the two colors
Ye'kwana:
seene
— linguistics: green or blue in languages that do not distinguish the two colors
Zulu:
-luhlaza
— linguistics: green or blue in languages that do not distinguish the two colors
Chinese Mandarin:
綠藍 /绿蓝
— translations to be checked
