gravy

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gravy

/ˈɡɹeɪvi/ US, UK
/ˈɡɹɛjvɪj/ British, Southern, Standard
/ˈɡɹæɪvi/ Australia, New Zealand
/ˈɡɾeve/ Scotland
/-vɪ/ Scotland
/-vi/ Scotland
/ˈɡɾeːvi/ Wales

Rhymes with -eɪvi

Where it comes from

From Middle English gravey, greavie, gravy; probably from greaves, graves (“the sediment of melted tallow”), or from Old French grave, a claimed misspelling of grané (“stew, spice”), from grain (“spice”).

Sense of "pasta sauce" apparently seems to be from Italian dialect, especially Calabrian, differentiating tomato puree (salsa (“sauce”)) from cooked tomato sauce (sugo).

noun gravies

countable, uncountable, usually A dark savoury sauce prepared from stock and usually meat juices; brown gravy. A roast dinner isn't complete without gravy.
Southern US, countable, uncountable, usually A pale sauce prepared from a roux with meat fat; a type of béchamel sauce. There are few foods more Southern than biscuits and gravy.
uncountable, usually Sauce used for pasta.
India, Singapore, uncountable, usually Curry sauce. With this the hostess poured two or three spoonfuls of the gravy of the curry on to the rice opposite to each person.
informal, uncountable, usually Unearned gain; extra benefit. The first thousand tickets and the concessions cover the venue and the band. The rest is gravy.

verb gravies · gravying · gravied

To make gravy. I mean simply this — that the process of canning and preserving or of gravying and saucing frequently removes the most vitally essential acids and salts […]

Thesaurus

Closest in meaning: windfall, godsend, bunce, broth, dough, sausage, soup, cake, sauce, batch, salsa, juice, jus, spice, dressing, dip

Translations

Every language

noun sauce

Español	salsa, gravy, grevi, greve
한국어	그레이비 geureibi
日本語	グレービー gurēbī, グレイビーソース gureibī sōsu, 肉汁
中文	肉汁 ròuzhī
Português	molho
Français	jus de viande, sauce au jus, sauce de viande, sauce brune
Deutsch	Soße, Bratensoße
Italiano	sugo, salsa
Ελληνικά	ζωμός zomós
Română	zeamă
Русский	подли́вка podlívka, со́ус sóus
Tiếng Việt	nước chấm
العربية	مَرَق maraq, مَرَقَة maraqa, صَلْصَة ṣalṣa
עברית	רוטב, רֹטֶב rótev

noun unearned gain

Français	profit, bénéfice

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Cite this

MLA

"gravy." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/gravy. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

gravy. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/gravy

Chicago

"gravy." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/gravy.

BibTeX

@misc{gravy_2026,
  title = {gravy},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/gravy},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}