sand
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sand¹
- /sænd/ Canada, US, UK
- [seənd] ~ [sɛənd]
- /sand/ British, Northern England, Scotland
- /sæːnd/ Australia
- [seːnd] ~ [sɛeːnd]
- /sɛnd/ New Zealand
Rhymes with -ænd
Where it comes from
Inherited from Middle English sond, sand, from Old English sand, from Proto-West Germanic *samd, from Proto-Germanic *samdaz.
See also North Frisian sun, Sön, sönj (“sand”), Saterland Frisian Sound (“sand”), West Frisian sân (“sand”), Dutch zand (“sand”), German and Luxembourgish Sand (“sand”), Yiddish זאַמד (zamd, “sand”), Danish, Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk, and Swedish sand (“sand”), Faroese and Icelandic sandur (“sand”), Latin sabulum (“sand, gravel”), Ancient Greek ἄμαθος (ámathos, “sand”), English dialectal samel (“sand bottom”), Old Irish do·essim (“to pour out”), Latin sentina (“bilge water”), Lithuanian sémti (“to scoop”), Ancient Greek ἀμάω (amáō, “to gather”), ἄμη (ámē, “water bucket”).
noun sands
- Rock that is ground more finely than gravel, but is not as fine as silt (more formally, see grain sizes chart), forming beaches and deserts and also used in construction. For a spell we done pretty well. Then there came a reg'lar terror of a sou'wester same as you don't get one summer in a thousand, and blowed the shanty flat and ripped about half of the weir poles out of the sand.
- A specific grade, type, or composition of sand. One sand was that used in cement testing with white well rounded smooth grains, passing through a 20-mesh sieve and retained on a 30-mesh sieve. The other was ordinary brown building sand, passing 40-mesh and retained on 60-mesh.
- A beach or other mass of sand. The Canadian tar sands are a promising source of oil.
-
Personal courage.
You may say what you want to, but in my opinion she had more sand in her than any girl I ever see; in my opinion she was just full of sand.
Similar: grit
- A particle from 62.5 microns to 2 mm in diameter, following the Wentworth scale.
- A light beige colour, like that of typical sand.
- A single grain of sand. One sand another. Not more resembles that sweet rosy lad
- A moment or interval of time; the term or extent of one's life (referring to the sand in an hourglass). The sands are numbered that make up my life.
- Dried mucus in the eye's inner corner, perhaps left from sleep (sleepy sand). Sleep in your eyes, sleep crust, sand, eye gunk—whatever you call it, we all get it—that crusty stuff in the corners of your eyes when you wake up in the morning. "The medical term is 'rheum,' though you rarely hear it used," […]
- "sand in [someone's] eyes" (idiom) Cf. Sandman, a mythical character in European folklore who puts people to sleep and encourages and inspires beautiful dreams by sprinkling magical sand onto their eyes.
- An excuse for tears. Cf. “Sand in My Eyes”, in TV Tropes, 1 March 2023 (last accessed): “Alternative Title(s): Something In My Eye”
adjective
- Of a light beige colour, like that of typical sand.
sand²
- /sænd/ Canada, US, UK
- [seənd] ~ [sɛənd]
- /sand/ British, Northern England, Scotland
- /sæːnd/ Australia
- [seːnd] ~ [sɛeːnd]
- /sɛnd/ New Zealand
Rhymes with -ænd
Where it comes from
From Middle English sanden, from the noun (see above).
verb sands · sanding · sanded
- To abrade the surface of (something) with sand or sandpaper in order to smooth or clean it.
- To cover with sand. Sudden stopping, which could be effected easily by sanding the rails and reversing the driving-gear, was dangerous, because the train might telescope and overwhelm the engine.
- To blot ink using sand. The officer wrote until he had finished, read over to himself what he had written, sanded it, and handed it to Defarge, with the words "In secret."
sand³
- /sænd/ Canada, US, UK
- [seənd] ~ [sɛənd]
- /sand/ British, Northern England, Scotland
- /sæːnd/ Australia
- [seːnd] ~ [sɛeːnd]
- /sɛnd/ New Zealand
Rhymes with -ænd
noun sands
- Ellipsis of sandpiper
Thesaurus
Closest in meaning: grit, sandpaper, guts, backbone, gumption, bituminous, clay, tar, silt, dune, soil, dirt, sandy, gravel, desertification, dust
Translations
Every language
noun finely ground rock
| Español | arena |
|---|---|
| 한국어 | 모래 morae |
| 日本語 | 砂 suna |
| 中文 | 沙 shā, 沙子 shāzi |
| हिन्दी | रेत ret, बालू bālū |
| Kiswahili | mchanga |
| Português | areia |
| Français | sable |
| Deutsch | Sand |
| Italiano | sabbia, rena |
| Ελληνικά | άμμος ámmos |
| Română | nisip, arină |
| Русский | песо́к pesók |
| Tiếng Việt | cát |
| العربية | رَمْل raml |
| עברית | חוֹל khól |
noun beach or other expanse of sand
| Español | playa |
|---|---|
| 日本語 | 砂浜 sunahama, ビーチ bīchi |
| Português | praia |
| Français | plage |
| Deutsch | Sand, Sandstrand |
| Italiano | spiaggia |
| Ελληνικά | αμμουδιά ammoudiá |
| Română | plajă |
noun light beige colour
| 日本語 | 砂色 sunairo |
|---|---|
| Português | areia |
| Français | ton sable, teinte sable |
| Deutsch | Sand, Sandfarbe |
| Русский | песо́чный pesóčnyj |
verb to abrade with sand or sandpaper
| Español | lijar, alijar |
|---|---|
| 日本語 | 磨く migaku |
| Português | arear, lixar |
| Deutsch | schleifen, schmirgeln |
| Italiano | scartavetrare |
| Română | sabla |
verb to cover with sand
| Português | arear |
|---|---|
| Italiano | insabbiare |
| Română | acoperi cu nisip, nisipi |
Talk about this word "sand." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/sand. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026. sand. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/sand "sand." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/sand.Cite this
@misc{sand_2026,
title = {sand},
howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
year = {2026},
url = {https://micwyn.com/word/sand},
urldate = {2026-11-06}
}
