Grief
/ɡriːf/noun
Intense sorrow, especially caused by someone's death.
Did you know?The word 'grief' has roots in the Latin 'gravis', meaning heavy or serious, reflecting the weighty nature of loss.
Etymological Timeline
Old French
Old French
grief
“Seriousness, heaviness; sorrow.”
Latin
Latin
gravis
“Heavy, serious, weighty.”
Proto-Indo-European
PIE
*gʲrewə-
“To be heavy or to weigh down.”
Middle English
Middle English
grief
“Sorrow, pain, affliction.”
Modern English
English
grief
“Intense sorrow, particularly in response to loss.”