Etymograph

English

groin

Groin comes from Old English grynde ‘abyss’, and goes back to Proto-Germanic *grundiją.

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*grundijąreconstructed
  2. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*grundī‘abyss’reconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150grynde‘abyss’
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500grinde
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1869groin

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Earlier history uncertain.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*grundijąreconstructed
  2. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*grundī‘abyss’reconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150grynde‘abyss’
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500grinde
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1869groin

Earliest quotation: 1869, Alfred Russel Wallace, The Malay Archipelago: “The part of the village in which I resided…”

The story

From earlier grine, from Middle English grinde, grynde, from Old English grynde (‘abyss’) (perhaps also "depression, hollow"), probably related to Proto-Germanic *grunduz; see ground. Later altered under the influence of loin.

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *gʰrem- ‘floor, settlement’

grim, grunting, pogrom, 5 more

through Proto-Germanic *grunduz ‘ground, foundation’

ground, 1 more

Another origin of groin

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*grunnōnąreconstructed
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEgrunniō‘to grunt (like a pig)’
  3. Old Frenchc. 842–1400groignier
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500groynen‘to mumble, growl or babble’
  5. Englishtodaygroin

Today it means

noun The crease or depression of the human body at the junction of the trunk and the thigh, together with the surrounding region.

Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.

Etymograph / Proto-Germanic *grundiją / groin

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