grunt

UK: /ˈgrʌnt/ US: /grʌnt/ ,(grunt)

WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2026

grunt /grʌnt/   v. 

[no object]
1. to make the deep, throaty sound that a hog or pig makes;
   to make a similar sound:
   The usher just grunted and pointed to my seat.

n. [countable]

2. a sound of grunting.
3. Slang Terms an infantryman.

WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2026

grunt  (grunt), v.i. 

1. to utter the deep, guttural sound characteristic of a hog.
2. to utter a similar sound.
3. to grumble, as in discontent.

v.t. 

4. to express with a grunt.

n. 

5. a sound of grunting.
6. Food [New Eng. Cookery.] a dessert, typically of cherries, peaches, or apples sweetened and spiced, and topped with biscuit dough.
7. Fish any food fish of the family Pomadasyidae (Haemulidae), found chiefly in tropical and subtropical seas, that emits grunting sounds.
8. Slang Terms a soldier, esp. an infantryman.
9. Slang Terms a common or unskilled worker;
   laborer.

• bef. 900; Middle English grunten,, Old English grunnettan, frequentative of grunian to grunt; cognate with German grunzen, Latin grunnīre

grunt′ing•ly, adv. 

Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::

grunt / ɡrʌnt/ verb

1. (intransitive) (esp of pigs and some other animals) to emit a low short gruff noise
2. (when tr, may take a clause as object) to express something gruffly: he grunted his answer

noun

1. the characteristic low short gruff noise of pigs, etc, or a similar sound, as of disgust
2. any of various mainly tropical marine sciaenid fishes, such as Haemulon macrostomum (Spanish grunt), that utter a grunting sound when caught
3. power, esp in a motor vehicle

Etymology: Old English grunnettan, probably of imitative origin; compare Old High German grunnizōn, grunni moaning, Latin grunnīre