grain

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   The seeds of food crops such as wheat, corn, and rice, used for food.

   We stored a thousand tons of grain for the winter.

2. 2
   noun

   A single tiny, hard piece of a substance such as sand, salt, or rice.

   A grain of sand got stuck in my eye.

3. 3
   noun

   The natural pattern of lines in wood, stone, or fabric.

   You should always cut wood along the grain.

4. 4
   noun

   A very small amount of something.

   There was a grain of truth in what he said.

Common collocations

• coarse grain Adjective + noun
• grain merchant Noun + noun

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.

Topics

External links

• Cambridge Dictionary
• Wiktionary
• Google Images