entry
grief
/ɡriːf/Deep sorrow or suffering caused by loss
From Latin, transmitted through Old French grav- / grief (heavy).
from Latin gravare "make heavy; cause grief,"
from Old French grief "wrong, grievance, injustice, misfortune, calamity" (13c.)
+1 more sourcefrom Middle English greef, gref
Word Ancestry
from Latin gravare "make heavy; cause grief,"
from Old French grief "wrong, grievance, injustice, misfortune, calamity" (13c.)
+1 more sourcefrom Middle English greef, gref
A grief was originally something that felt physically heavy—an invisible sack of stones strapped to the body. Latin gravare meant “to make heavy,” built from gravis, “weighty,” and medieval French turned that burden into grief: a wrong, calamity, or grievance. By the early 13th century, English speakers used greef for hardship and bodily pain; around 1300, the weight moved inward and began naming mental sorrow as well. The word is a close relative, almost a linguistic double, of grave: both carry the old image of weight pressing down. Centuries later, gamers gave the verb a mischievous new life: to grief someone is to harass them deliberately, making their play miserable—an online troublemaker still doing what the Latin verb promised, making things heavy.
The Story
A grief was originally something that felt physically heavy—an invisible sack of stones strapped to the body. Latin gravare meant “to make heavy,” built from gravis, “weighty,” and medieval French turned that burden into grief: a wrong, calamity, or grievance. By the early 13th century, English speakers used greef for hardship and bodily pain; around 1300, the weight moved inward and began naming mental sorrow as well. The word is a close relative, almost a linguistic double, of grave: both carry the old image of weight pressing down. Centuries later, gamers gave the verb a mischievous new life: to grief someone is to harass them deliberately, making their play miserable—an online troublemaker still doing what the Latin verb promised, making things heavy.
Modern Usage
To harass or disrupt other players deliberately, especially as a gaming activity
Notable References
- Good grief, an exclamation of surprise or dismay, is attested from 1912.
Kin & Kindred
From 'grav- / grief'·heavy; burdensome; grievous
Derived Terms
English words from this root
Sources
Free Dictionary
Urban Dictionary
Wikipedia
Wiktionary