grass
/ɡræs/
noun
Origin
Proto-Indo-European
*gʰreh₁- — to grow, to become green
Overview
Meaning Now
- Vegetation consisting of short plants with long, narrow leaves, growing wild or cultivated on lawns and pastures.
- The plant family Poaceae; any member of this family.
- Slang: Marijuana.
Literal older meaning
that which grows
Language path
Proto-Indo-European → Proto-Germanic → Proto-West Germanic → Old English → Middle English → Modern English
Earliest form
græs
Earliest period
Old English
Journey
The word is part of a large set of West Germanic terms for vegetation, sharing a common ancestor with words for 'grow' and 'green'. The slang sense 'informant' is thought to stem from 20th-century rhyming slang: 'grass' relates to 'grasshopper', which rhymes with 'copper' (police officer).
Evolution
- Proto-Germanic
*grasą
“grass, herb”
Derived from the PIE root *gʰreh₁-.
- Old English
græs
“grass, herb, plant”
Development of the West Germanic *gras.
- Middle English
gras
“grass, pasture”
Standardized spelling variations appearing in Middle English texts.
- Modern English
grass
“common lawn plant, marijuana, informant”
Expansion of sense to slang usages in the 20th century.
Connections
Word parts
grass
root
to grow
Related across languages
German
Gras
grass
Dutch
gras
grass
Swedish
gräs
grass
Explore next
Related to grass
External references use DefinedTerm semantics.