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Added 9 October 2026

grieve

/ɡɹiːv/ verb

Latin root: gravō Wiktionary

verb Definition from WordNet 3.1, Princeton University. Pronunciation from Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org. More about grieve at Wordnik → Where our words come from →

Feel grief.
Cause to feel sorrow.
his behavior grieves his mother

Origin

From Middle English greven, from Old French grever (“to burden”), from Latin gravō, gravāre, from adjective gravis (“grave”). For the meaning development compare Russian тяготи́ть (tjagotítʹ, “to be a burden (on), to oppress”), Russian тужи́ть (tužítʹ, “to experience grief”), related to тяжёлый (tjažólyj, “heavy, grave”), тя́жкий (tjážkij).

From Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org (CC BY-SA)

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