growl

English

Alternative forms

• groil (dialectal)
• groul (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English groulen, grollen, gurlen, from Old English gryllan, from Proto-Germanic *gruljaną, related to Middle Dutch grollen ("to make a noise, rumble, murmur, grunt, croak, be angry"; > Dutch grollen (“to grumble”)), German grollen (“to rumble, be angry, bear ill will”), Old English grillan, griellan (“to provoke, offend; gnash the teeth”). More at grill.

Pronunciation

• enPR: gräŭl, IPA^(key): /ɡɹaʊl/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aʊl

Noun

growl (plural growls)

1. The deep, threatening sound made in the throat by an animal; an aggressive grumbling.
2. The sound made by a hungry stomach.
3. (slang, archaic) A four-wheeled cab.

Derived terms

• death growl

Translations

deep threatening sound

• Bulgarian: ръмжене n (rǎmžene)
• Czech: vrčení n
• Dutch: grom (nl) m, (het) gegrom
• Finnish: murina (fi), mörinä,
• French: feulement (fr) m, grognement (fr) m
• German: Knurren n
• Hungarian: morgás (hu)
• Irish: glam f, drantán m
• Italian: ringhio (it) m
• Maori: ngengere
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: knurre (no)

• Polish: warczenie (pl) n, warknięcie n
• Portuguese: rosnado m
• Russian: рык (ru) m (ryk), рыча́ние (ru) n (ryčánije)
• Scottish Gaelic: dranndan m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: режање n

  Roman: režanje (sh) n

• Spanish: rugido (es) m
• Turkish: homurdanma, homurtu (tr)

sound made by a hungry stomach

• Bulgarian: къркорене n (kǎrkorene)
• Czech: kručení n
• Finnish: kurina
• French: borborygme (fr) m, gargouillement (fr) m
• German: Magenknurren (de) n
• Hungarian: korgás
• Italian: brontolio (it) m
• Japanese: グーグー (gūgū)

• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: rumle (no)

• Portuguese: ronco (pt) m
• Russian: урча́ние (ru) n (určánije)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: крчање n

  Roman: krčanje n

• Spanish: gruñido (es) m

Verb

growl (third-person singular simple present growls, present participle growling, simple past and past participle growled)

1. (intransitive) To utter a deep guttural sound, as an angry animal; to give forth an angry, grumbling sound.

   The dog growled at me as I walked past.

2. (transitive) To express (something) by growling.

   The old man growled his displeasure at the postman.

3. (software) To send a user a message via the Growl software library.

Translations

to utter a deep guttural sound

• Bulgarian: ръмжа (bg) (rǎmža)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 嗥叫 (háojiào), 咆哮 (zh) (páoxiào), 吼 (zh) (hǒu), 嘊 (zh), 啀 (zh) (ái)

• Dutch: grommen (nl)
• Esperanto: graŭli
• Finnish: murista (fi)
• French: feuler (fr) (of a tiger), gronder (fr) (of a bear), grogner (fr) (of a person or a bear), bougonner (fr) (of a person), ronchonner (fr) (of a person), grommeler (fr) (of a person)
• Galician: rosmar (gl)
• German: knurren (de)
• Hungarian: morog (hu)
• Italian: ringhiare (it)
• Japanese: 唸る (うなる, unaru)
• Korean: 으르렁거리다 (eureureong-georida)

• Maori: ngengere (of a dog)
• Navajo: ghąą ní
• Norman: ronner
• Polish: warczeć (pl)
• Portuguese: rosnar (pt)
• Quechua: phiñakuy
• Russian: рыча́ть (ru) (ryčátʹ)
• Scottish Gaelic: dèan dranndan
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: режати

  Roman: režati (sh)

• Spanish: gruñir (es)
• Swedish: morra (sv)

express (something) by growling

• Dutch: grommen (a somewhat neutral form), grauwen (an angry form)
• Finnish: murista (fi)
• French: grogner (fr)
• Italian: ringhiare (it)
• Portuguese: rosnar (pt)
• Russian: ворча́ть (ru) (vorčátʹ), бурча́ть (ru) (burčátʹ)

• Scottish Gaelic: dèan dranndan
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: режати

  Roman: režati (sh)

• Spanish: gruñir (es)

Anagrams

• glowr