growl
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growl
- /ˈɡɹaʊ̯l/ Canada, US, UK
- /ˈɡɹæʊ̯l/
- /ˈɡɹaːl/
Rhymes with -aʊl
Where it comes from
From Middle English groulen, grollen, gurlen (“of the bowels: to growl, rumble”), either possibly from Old French groler (variant of croler (“to be agitated, shake”)), grouler, grouller (“to growl, grumble”), from Frankish *grullen, *gruljan or from Old English gryllan, both from Proto-Germanic *gruljaną (“to make a sound; to growl, grumble, rumble”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʰer- (“to make a noise; to mumble, murmur; to rattle; to grind; to rub, stroke”), probably ultimately imitative. The word is cognate with Middle Dutch grollen (“to make a noise; to croak, grumble, murmur; to be angry”) (modern Dutch grollen (“to grumble”)), German grollen (“to rumble; to be angry, bear ill will”), Old English grillan, griellan (“to provoke, offend; to gnash the teeth”). Compare grill.
The noun is derived from the verb.
noun growls
- A deep, rumbling, threatening sound made in the throat by an animal. Hardly anything is more intensely disagreeable to one walking along the street, than to hear near his path a low savage growl—the expression of a surly dog's opinion and purpose.
- A similar sound made by a human.
- The rumbling sound made by a human's hungry stomach. Riding down the main thoroughfare, the growl of his stomach taints the soothing jazz playing on the radio.
- An aggressive grumbling. The clerk promised that he would; and Scrooge walked out with a growl. The office was closed in a twinkling, and the clerk, with the long ends of his white comforter dangling below his waist (for he boasted no great-coat), went down a slide on Cornhill, at the end of a lane of boys, twenty times, in
- A low-pitched rumbling sound produced with a wind instrument. The growl effect comes from fitting a small straight mute—a cornet mute for trumpet and a trumpet mute for trombone—covering the instrument's bell with a rubber plunger, the kind used by plumbers, and moving it in and out to affect the tone.
- Death growl
verb growls · growling · growled · groil · groul
- To utter a deep guttural sound, as an angry animal; to give forth an angry, grumbling sound. The dog growled at me as I walked past.
- Of a wind instrument: to produce a low-pitched rumbling sound. And he is bending in the wind, scooping pitch, growling. […] He plays his false fingers. Chokes the trumpet. He is naked. This is naked jazz. O-bop-she-bam. Never lying. Telling it like it is.
- To send a user a message via the Growl software library.
- To express (something) by growling. The old man growled his displeasure at the postman.
- To play a wind instrument in a way that produces a low-pitched rumbling sound. […] John Gilmore would take up his tenor and growl a keening march, Danny Thompson stab and worry with a flute, Sun Ra leave his big conga and mount the temple of keyboards for a ritual parenthesis of chromatic zig-zags and electro-howls.
- To perform death growl vocals.
Thesaurus
Closest in meaning: grumble, rumble, gnar, undergrowl, bellow, snarl, groan, roaring, snarling, death grunt, gruntle, yowl, gruntling, croak, roar, guttural
Translations
Every language
noun deep, rumbling, threatening sound
| Español | rugido |
|---|---|
| Português | rosnado |
| Français | feulement, grognement |
| Deutsch | Knurren |
| Italiano | ringhio |
| Ελληνικά | μουγκρίζω mougkrízo |
| Русский | рык ryk, рыча́ние ryčánije |
| العربية | زَمْجَرَة zamjara |
noun sound made by the stomach when hungry
| Español | rugido |
|---|---|
| 日本語 | グーグー gūgū |
| Português | ronco |
| Français | borborygme, gargouillement |
| Deutsch | Magenknurren |
| Italiano | brontolio |
| Русский | урча́ние určánije |
| العربية | قَرْقَرَة qarqara |
noun low-pitched rumbling sound produced with a wind instrument
| Français | grincement |
|---|
Talk about this word "growl." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/growl. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026. growl. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/growl "growl." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/growl.Cite this
@misc{growl_2026,
title = {growl},
howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
year = {2026},
url = {https://micwyn.com/word/growl},
urldate = {2026-11-06}
}
