Etymology Explorer › English

Where does “gritty” come from?

Gritty comes from Middle English -y, Middle French -ie, Latin -ia, Latin -ivus, Latin -ia, Proto-Indo-European -kos, and Proto-Indo-European -kos, forming an adjective suffix chain without attestation of intermediate semantic development.

gritty (English): Containing sand or grit; consisting of grit;...

Definitions

  1. Containing sand or grit; consisting of grit;...

Ancestry of “gritty”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1English-yAdded to nouns and adjectives to form adjectives...
2Middle English-yDesignates an adjective, in many cases formed by...
3Old English-iġ-y, -ic
4Proto-West Germanic-gForms adjectives from nouns and verbs with a...
5Proto-Germanic-gaz-y
6Proto-Indo-European-ḱos-y, -ic

Words derived from “gritty”

  • grittiness
  • grittily
  • ungritty
Every word from Proto-Indo-European -ḱos →