Etymograph

English

groove

Groove comes from Middle English grov.

  1. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500grov
  2. Englishearliest quotation 1851groove

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Earlier history uncertain.

Lineage

  1. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500grov
  2. Englishearliest quotation 1851groove

Earliest quotation: 1851, Herman Melville, The Whale: “The path to my fixed purpose is laid with…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *gʰrebʰ- ‘to dig, scrape, bury’

grab, grave, grasp, graft, grapple, grub, 7 more

Today it means

noun A long, narrow channel or depression; e.g., such a slot cut into a hard material to provide a location for an engineering component, a tire groove, or a geological channel or depression.

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

Etymograph / Middle English grov / groove

Shirt and support for this word