Grille

See also: grille and grillé

German

Etymology

From Middle High German grille, from Old High German grillo, probably from Latin gryllus (“grasshopper, cricket”), possibly onomatopoetic in origin, but perhaps borrowed in turn from Ancient Greek γρύλλος (grúllos, “Egyptian dance performer; painted caricature”), of unknown further origin.

Pronunciation
  • IPA(key): /ˈɡʁɪlə/
  • Audio(file)

Noun

Grille f (genitive Grille, plural Grillen)

  1. cricket (insect of the family Gryllidae)
  2. whim, strange thought, freakish or fantastical idea
    Synonym: Marotte
    • 1924, Thomas Mann, Der Zauberberg [The Magic Mountain], volume 2, Berlin: S. Fischer, page 487:
      Der Hofrat ging ihm gelegentlich zur Hand bei solchem schwermütigen Getändel, bestärkte ihn überhaupt in seiner Grille.
      Occasionally the councilor gave him a hand in such melancholy dealings, and in general encouraged him in his quirk.
    • 2017 March 2, Michael Allmaier, “Du bist, was du liest”, in Die Zeit‎:
      Friederike Schultz, 37, ist es gewohnt, dass Kollegen sie “als Außerirdische betrachten”. Bibliophilie kennt man als eine Grille älterer Männer.
      (please add an English translation of this quotation)
  3. (dated) spleen, melancholy

Declension
Declension of Grille [feminine]
singular plural
indef. def. noun def. noun
nominative eine die Grille die Grillen
genitive einer der Grille der Grillen
dative einer der Grille den Grillen
accusative eine die Grille die Grillen

See also

Further reading
This article is issued from Wiktionary. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.