# grain
## English
### Pronunciation

* IPA: /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)
* (uncountable) The harvested seeds of various grass food crops eg: wheat, corn, barley.
    We stored a thousand tons of grain for the winter.
* (uncountable) Similar seeds from any food crop, e.g., buckwheat, amaranth, quinoa.
* (countable) A single seed of grass food crops.
    a grain of wheat
    grains of oat
* (countable, uncountable) The crops from which grain is harvested.
    The fields were planted with grain.
* (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.
* (countable) A single particle of a substance.
    a grain of sand
    a grain of salt
* (countable) Any of various small units of mass originally notionally based on grain's weight, variously standardized at different places and times, including
** The English grain of $^1$⁄$_{5760}$ troy pound or $^1$⁄$_{7000}$ pound avoirdupois, now exactly 64.79891 mg.
    Synonym: troy grain
** The metric, carat, or pearl grain of $^1$⁄$_4$ carat used for measuring precious stones and pearls, now exactly 50 mg.
** (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.
* (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.
* (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.
* (materials) A region within a material having a single crystal structure or direction.
* (astronautics) The solid piece of fuel in an individual solid-fuel rocket engine.
* 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.
* 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.
* (in the plural) The remains of grain, etc., after brewing or distillation; hence, any residuum.
    Synonym: draff
* (botany) A rounded prominence on the back of a sepal, as in the common dock.
* 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
* (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

* against the grain
* ancient grain
* argyrophilic grain disease
* end grain
* feed grain
* feedgrain
* felt grain
* foodgrain
* go against the grain
* grainage
* grain beetle
* grain boundary
* grain corn
* grain elevator
* grain engulfment
* grain entrapment
* grainfall
* grainfield
* grainflow
* grainish
* grain itch
* grainland
* grainless
* grainlike
* grainline
* grain moon
* grain of paradise
* grain of salt
* grain of truth
* grain physa
* grain popping
* grain refiner
* grain size
* grains of paradise
* grainstone
* grain weevil
* grain whiskey
* grain whisky
* grainy
* grain yard
* grainygrip grain
* grip grain
* guinea grains
* intergrain
* intragrain
* kefir grain
* micrograin
* multigrain
* nanograin
* nongrain
* overgrain
* pollen grain
* pseudograin
* puffed grain
* seed grain
* silver-grain
* silver grain
* snow grains
* soft-grain
* subgrain
* supergrain
* there's a grain of truth in every joke
* troy grain
* whole-grain
* wholegrain
* whole grain
* with a grain of salt
* woodgrain

##### Related terms

* coarse-grained
* fine-grained
* garnet
* grain alcohol
* grain car
* grain neutral spirit
* grains of paradise
* grain spirit
* granary
* granular
* granularity
* granulate
* granulation
* grenade
* grosgrain
* guinea grains
* neutral grain spirit

##### Translations

Akkadian: 𒊺 (še'um)
Albanian: drithë (sq) f
Arabic: حَبَة f (ḥaba)
Armenian: հացահատիկ (hy) (hacʻahatik)
Aromanian: grãn
Azerbaijani: dən (az)
Bashkir: ярма (yarma)
Belarusian: зерне́ n (zjernjé), збо́жжа n (zbóžža), жы́та n (žýta)
Bengali: শস্য (bn) (śosśo)
Bulgarian: зърно́ (bg) n (zǎrnó)
Burmese: အဆန် (my) (a.hcan)
Catalan: gra (ca) m
Chinese:
Mandarin: 糧食 / 粮食 (zh) (liángshí), 穀物 / 谷物 (zh) (gǔwù), 穀類 / 谷类 (zh) (gǔlèi)
Czech: zrno (cs) n, zrní (cs) n
Dalmatian: grun m
Danish: korn n
Dutch: koren (nl) n, graan (nl) n
Egyptian: (sšr)
Esperanto: greno (eo)
Estonian: teravili, tera (et)
Finnish: vilja (fi), jyvät (fi) pl
French: grain (fr) m
Galician: grao (gl) m, gran (gl) m
Georgian: მარცვალი (marcvali)
German: Korn (de) n, Getreide (de) n
Gothic: 𐌺𐌰𐌿𐍂𐌽 n (kaurn)
Greek: σιτηρά (el) n pl (sitirá), δημητριακά (el) n pl (dimitriaká)
Ancient: σῖτος m (sîtos), (Epic) ἀκτή m (aktḗ)
Haitian Creole: grenn
Hebrew: בָּר (he) m (bar)
Hindi: अनाज (hi) m (anāj), अन्न (hi) m (ann), धान्य (hi) m (dhānya)
Hungarian: gabona (hu)
Icelandic: korn (is) n
Irish: grán m
Old Irish: grán n
Italian: seme (it)
Japanese: 穀物 (ja) (こくもつ, kokumotsu), 穀類 (ja) (こくるい, kokurui)
Javanese: wiji (jv)
Kazakh: дән (dän), астық (astyq)
Khiamniungan Naga: vêi
Khmer: គ្រាប់ (km) (krŏəp)
Korean: 곡물 (ko) (gongmul)
Kumyk: ашлыкъ (aşlıq), бюртюк (bürtük), урлукъ (urluq)
Kyrgyz: дан (ky) (dan)
Ladin: blava f
Lao: ເມັດ (met)
Latgalian: gryudi pl, maize f
Latin: frūmentum n
Latvian: labība (lv) f, graudi pl
Lithuanian: grūdai pl, javai pl
Low German: Koorn n
Macedonian: жи́то n (žíto)
Malay: biji (ms)
Marathi: धान्य n (dhānya)
Megleno-Romanian: grǫn
Mongolian: үр (mn) (ür), ширхэг (mn) (širxeg), будаа (mn) (budaa)
Norwegian: korn (no) n
Occitan: gran (oc) m
Old Church Slavonic: жито n (žito), зрьно n (zrĭno)
Old English: corn (ang) n
Oromo: mindhaan
Ossetian: нӕмыг (næmyg)
Persian: غلات (fa) (ğallât), خرمن (fa) (xarman)
Polabian: zaitü n
Polish: ziarno (pl) n, zboże (pl) n
Portuguese: grão (pt) m
Romanian: grăunte (ro)
Russian: зерно́ (ru) n (zernó), жи́то (ru) n (žíto)
Sanskrit: धान्य (sa) n (dhānya), कण (sa) m (kaṇa)
Scottish Gaelic: gràn m
Serbo-Croatian:
Cyrillic: зр̏но n, жи̏то n
Roman: zȑno (sh) n, žȉto (sh) n
Sidamo: gide
Slovak: zrno n
Slovene: zrno (sl) n, žito (sl) n
Southern Altai: аш (aš)
Spanish: grano (es) m
Swahili: nafaka (sw)
Swedish: säd (sv) c, spannmål (sv) n
Tajik: дон (tg) (don), ғалла (ġalla)
Tatar: бөртек (tt) (börtek), ашлык (tt) (aşlıq)
Thai: ธัญ (th) (tan), เมล็ด (th) (má-lét), เม็ด (th) (mét)
Tigrinya: እኽሊ (ʾəxli)
Tocharian B: tāno, ysāre
Turkish: tahıl (tr)
Turkmen: digir, däne, galla
Ukrainian: зерно́ (uk) n (zernó), збі́жжя n (zbížžja), жи́то (uk) n (žýto)
Urdu: اناج m (anāj)
Uzbek: don (uz), gʻalla (uz)
Vietnamese: ngũ cốc (vi)
Welsh: grawn m, ŷd m
Zazaki: xerman, ğele (diq)
Zulu: izinhlamvu class 10 :
    The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

##### See also

* cereal
* Appendix:Grains – translation tables for various grains

#### Verb

grain (third-person singular simple present grains, present participle graining, simple past and past participle grained)
* To feed grain to.
* (transitive) To make granular; to form into grains.
* (intransitive) To form grains, or to assume a granular form, as the result of crystallization; to granulate.
* To texture a surface in imitation of the grain of a substance such as wood.
* (tanning) To remove the hair or fat from a skin.
* (tanning) To soften leather.
* To yield fruit.

##### Derived terms

* grain up

##### 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)
* A branch of a tree; a stalk or stem of a plant; an offshoot.
* A tine, prong, or fork.
** One of the branches of a valley or river.
** 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
** A blade of a sword, knife, etc.
** An arm of a cross.
* (founding) A thin piece of metal, used in a mould to steady a core.
* (dialectal) A branch or arm of a stream, inlet, or sea.
* (dialectal) A fork in a river valley or ravine.
* (dialectal) The branch of a family; clan.
* (dialectal, anatomy) The groin; crotch.
* (dialectal, anatomy) The fangs of a tooth.

### Further reading

* “grain”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
* William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “grain”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.

### Anagrams

* A ring, IgNAR, Ngari, Nigra, Ragin, Rigan, agrin, nigra, raign, raing

## French
### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ɡʁɛ̃/
* Audio:(file)
* Rhymes: -ɛ̃

### 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)
* grain
* (figurative) a small amount, a bit

##### Derived terms

* grain de beauté
* gros-grain
* mettre son grain de sel
* ramener son grain de sel
* séparer le bon grain de l’ivraie

##### Related terms

* grenier

### 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)
* (nautical) squall, thunderstorm

##### Derived terms

* avoir un grain
* veiller au grain

### Further reading

* “grain”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

### Anagrams

* garni

## Middle English
### Verb

grain
* Alternative form of greynen

## Old French
### Alternative forms

* grein

### Etymology

From Latin grānum.

### Noun

grain oblique singular, m (oblique plural grainz, nominative singular grainz, nominative plural grain)
* grain (edible part of a cereal plant)
** c. 1120, Philippe de Taon, Bestiaire, line 421:E quant grain ad truved de tuz maneres de bledWhen it [the ant] found grain of all manners of wheat

#### Related terms

* grenier / guernier

#### Descendants

* Middle French: grain
** French: grain
* → Irish: gráinne
* → Middle English: greyn, grayn, grayne, grein, greyne, grone
** English: grain
** Scots: grain
** Yola: gryne

## Scots
### Alternative forms

* grane, grayne, graine

### Etymology

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

### Noun

grain (plural grains)
* (of a tree) A branch or bough.
* (of a plant) A stalk.
* (of a fork or trident) A prong.
* An offshoot, branch, or member of anything
* (of a cross) An arm.
* (of a family or surname) A branch.
* A branch of a stream; the arm of a loch.