grain

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See also: gráin, gràin, gräin, and Grain

English

English Wikipedia has articles on:
Wikipedia Wikipedia
Mixed grain—the harvested seeds
A close-up of wood grain—texture of material

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ɡɹeɪn/
  • Audio (US):(file)
  • Rhymes: -eɪn

Etymology 1

From Middle English greyn, grayn, grein, from Old French grain, grein, from Latin grānum (“seed”), from Proto-Indo-European *ǵr̥h₂nóm (“grain”). Doublet of corn, gram, granum, and grao.

Noun

grain (countable and uncountable, plural grains)

  2. (uncountable) The harvested seeds of various grass food crops eg: wheat, corn, barley.
    We stored a thousand tons of grain for the winter.
  4. (uncountable) Similar seeds from any food crop, e.g., buckwheat, amaranth, quinoa.
  6. (countable) A single seed of grass food crops.
    a grain of wheat
    grains of oat
  8. (countable, uncountable) The crops from which grain is harvested.
    The fields were planted with grain.
  10. (uncountable) A linear texture of a material or surface.
    Cut along the grain of the wood.
    He doesn't like to shave against the grain.
  12. (countable) A single particle of a substance.
    a grain of sand
    a grain of salt
  14. (countable) Any of various small units of mass originally notionally based on grain's weight, variously standardized at different places and times, including
    2. The English grain of 1⁄5760 troy pound or 1⁄7000 pound avoirdupois, now exactly 64.79891 mg.
      Synonym: troy grain
    4. The metric, carat, or pearl grain of 1⁄4 carat used for measuring precious stones and pearls, now exactly 50 mg.
    6. (historical) The French grain of 1⁄9216 livre, equivalent to 53.11 mg at metricization and equal to exactly 54.25 mg from 1812–1839 as part of the mesures usuelles.
  16. (countable, chiefly historical) Any of various small units of length originally notionally based on a grain's width, variously standardized at different places and times.
  18. (countable, historical) The carat grain of 1⁄4 carat as a measure of gold purity, creating a 96-point scale between 0% and 100% purity.
  20. (materials) A region within a material having a single crystal structure or direction.
  22. (astronautics) The solid piece of fuel in an individual solid-fuel rocket engine.
  24. A reddish dye made from the coccus insect, or kermes; hence, a red color of any tint or hue, as crimson, scarlet, etc.; sometimes used by the poets as equivalent to Tyrian purple.
    • 1646 (indicated as 1645), John Milton, “Penseroso”, in Poems of Mr. John Milton, […], London: […] Ruth Raworth for Humphrey Mosely, […], →OCLC:
      all in a robe of darkest grain
    • a. 1825, Quoted by Coleridge, preface to Aids to Reflection:
      […] doing as the dyers do, who, having first dipped their silks in colours of less value, then give them the last tincture of crimson in grain.
  26. The hair side of a piece of leather, or the marking on that side.
    • 1773, Royal Dublin Society, The Art of Tanning and of Currying Leather:
      The grain of the leather is also sometimes damaged by the filling , by the taking off the hair , and by the river work.
  28. (in the plural) The remains of grain, etc., after brewing or distillation; hence, any residuum.
    Synonym: draff
  30. (botany) A rounded prominence on the back of a sepal, as in the common dock.
  31. Temper; natural disposition; inclination.
    • a. 1628 (date written), John Hayward, The Life, and Raigne of King Edward the Sixt, London: […] [Eliot’s Court Press, and J. Lichfield at Oxford?] for Iohn Partridge, […], published 1630, →OCLC:
      brothers […] not united in grain
  33. (photography, videography) Visual texture in processed photographic film due to the presence of small particles of a metallic silver, or dye clouds, developed from silver halide that have received enough photons.
Derived terms
Translations
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked
See also

Verb

grain (third-person singular simple present grains, present participle graining, simple past and past participle grained)

  1. To feed grain to.
  2. (transitive) To make granular; to form into grains.
  3. (intransitive) To form grains, or to assume a granular form, as the result of crystallization; to granulate.
  4. To texture a surface in imitation of the grain of a substance such as wood.
  5. (tanning) To remove the hair or fat from a skin.
  6. (tanning) To soften leather.
  7. To yield fruit.
Derived terms
Translations

Etymology 2

From Middle English grayn, from Old Norse grein (“bough, branch”), from Proto-Germanic *grainiz (“branch, twig, ramification”), of unknown origin. Related to English grove (“thicket”).

Alternative forms

  • grane (Scotland, Northern England)

Noun

grain (plural grains)

  1. A branch of a tree; a stalk or stem of a plant; an offshoot.
  2. A tine, prong, or fork.
    1. One of the branches of a valley or river.
    2. An iron fish spear or harpoon, with a number of points half-barbed inwardly.
      • 4 May 1770, Stephen Forwood (gunner on H.M. Bark Endeavour), journal (quoted by Parkin (page 195)
        Served 5 lb of fish per man which was caught by striking with grains
    3. A blade of a sword, knife, etc.
    4. An arm of a cross.
  3. (founding) A thin piece of metal, used in a mould to steady a core.
  4. (dialectal) A branch or arm of a stream, inlet, or sea.
  5. (dialectal) A fork in a river valley or ravine.
  6. (dialectal) The branch of a family; clan.
  7. (dialectal, anatomy) The groin; crotch.
  8. (dialectal, anatomy) The fangs of a tooth.

Further reading

Anagrams

French

Pronunciation

Etymology 1

Inherited from Middle French, from Old French grain, grein, from Latin grānum, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ǵr̥h₂nóm.

Noun

grain m (plural grains)

  1. grain
  2. (figurative) a small amount, a bit
Derived terms

Etymology 2

Perhaps from etymology 1, referring to hailstones. (This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Noun

grain m (plural grains)

  2. (nautical) squall, thunderstorm
Derived terms

Further reading

Anagrams

Middle English

Verb

grain

  1. Alternative form of greynen

Old French

Alternative forms

Etymology

From Latin grānum.

Noun

grain oblique singular, m (oblique plural grainz, nominative singular grainz, nominative plural grain)

  1. grain (edible part of a cereal plant)
    • c. 1120, Philippe de Taon, Bestiaire, line 421:
      E quant grain ad truved de tuz maneres de bled
      When it [the ant] found grain of all manners of wheat

Descendants

Scots

Alternative forms

Etymology

From Middle English grayn, greyn, grein, from Old Norse grein (“branch, twig”), from Proto-Germanic *grainiz (“branch”).

Noun

grain (plural grains)

  1. (of a tree) A branch or bough.
  2. (of a plant) A stalk.
  3. (of a fork or trident) A prong.
  4. An offshoot, branch, or member of anything
  5. (of a cross) An arm.
  6. (of a family or surname) A branch.
  7. A branch of a stream; the arm of a loch.
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