Talk:grizzly

Legitimate alt form of grisly?

a grizzly bear, not actually grizzled

We have it as a misspelling, but I just saw this in Sheridan Le Fanu: "the edifice looked unpleasantly dim, and went off at the far end into total darkness. Zekiel Irons was a lean, reserved fellow, with a black wig and blue chin, and something shy and sinister in his phiz. I don't think he had entertained honest Bob with much conversation from those thin lips of his during their grizzly tête-à-tête among the black windows and the mural tablets that overhung the aisle." Equinox ◑ 16:19, 20 November 2017 (UTC)

Increasingly so, I think. Originally, Ursus arctos horribilis, related to Ursus arctos arctos (European brown bear) was often called a grisly bear. The animal is not grizzled. Now, grizzly bear is the term exclusively used. But grisly scene is much more common than grizzly scene, though grizzly scene is on the rise. DCDuring (talk) 18:30, 20 November 2017 (UTC)

See Online Oxford Dictionaries for more on this. DCDuring (talk) 18:58, 20 November 2017 (UTC)