• IPA: /ɡɹeɪn/

From Middle English greyn, grayn, grein, from Old French grain, grein, from Latin grānum, from Proto-Indo-European *ǵr̥h₂nóm.

grain

1. (uncountable) The harvested seeds of various grass food crops eg: wheat, corn, barley.

   We stored a thousand tons of grain for the winter.

2. (uncountable) Similar seeds from any food crop, e.g., buckwheat, amaranth, quinoa.
3. (countable) A single seed of grass food crops.

   a grain of wheat

   grains of oat

4. (countable, uncountable) The crops from which grain is harvested.

   The fields were planted with grain.

5. (uncountable) A linear texture of a material or surface.

   Cut along the grain of the wood.

   He doesn't like to shave against the grain.

6. (countable) A single particle of a substance.

   a grain of sand

   a grain of salt

7. (countable) Any of various small units of mass originally notionally based on grain's weight, variously standardized at different places and times, including
   1. The English grain of ¹⁄₅₇₆₀ troy pound or ¹⁄₇₀₀₀ pound avoirdupois, now exactly 64.79891 mg.

      Synonyms: troy grain

   2. The metric, carat, or pearl grain of ¹⁄₄ carat used for measuring precious stones and pearls, now exactly 50 mg.
   3. (historical) The French grain of ¹⁄₉₂₁₆ livre, equivalent to 53.11 mg at metricization and equal to exactly 54.25 mg from 1812–1839 as part of the mesures usuelles.
8. (countable, chiefly, historical) Any of various small units of length originally notionally based on a grain's width, variously standardized at different places and times.
9. (countable, historical) The carat grain of ¹⁄₄ carat as a measure of gold purity, creating a 96-point scale between 0% and 100% purity.
10. (materials) A region within a material having a single crystal structure or direction.
11. (rocketry) The solid piece of fuel in an individual solid-fuel rocket engine.
12. A reddish dye made from the coccus insect, or kermes; hence, a red color of any tint or hue, as crimson, scarlet, etc.; sometimes used by the poets as equivalent to Tyrian purple.
    • 1646 (indicated as 1645), John Milton, “Penseroso”, in Poems of Mr. John Milton, […], London: […] Ruth Raworth for Humphrey Mosely, […], →OCLC ↗:

      all in a robe of darkest grain

    • a. 1825, Quoted by Coleridge, preface to Aids to Reflection:

      […] doing as the dyers do, who, having first dipped their silks in colours of less value, then give them the last tincture of crimson in grain.

13. The hair side of a piece of leather, or the marking on that side.
14. (in the plural) The remains of grain, etc., after brewing or distillation; hence, any residuum.

    Synonyms: draff

15. (botany) A rounded prominence on the back of a sepal, as in the common dock.
16. Temper; natural disposition; inclination.
    • a. 1628 (date written), John Hayward, The Life, and Raigne of King Edward the Sixt, London: […] [Eliot’s Court Press, and J. Lichfield at Oxford?] for Iohn Partridge, […], published 1630, →OCLC ↗:

      brothers […] not united in grain

17. (photography, videography) Visual texture in processed photographic film due to the presence of small particles of a metallic silver, or dye clouds, developed from silver halide that have received enough photons.

• French: grain
• German: Korn, Getreide
• Italian: seme
• Portuguese: grão
• Russian: зерно́
• Spanish: grano

• French: grain
• German: Körnchen, Korn
• Portuguese: grão
• Russian: зерно́
• Spanish: grano

• German: Getreide
• Portuguese: cereal
• Russian: зерновой
• Spanish: cereal

• French: grain
• German: Maserung
• Portuguese: granularidade
• Russian: зерни́стость
• Spanish: veta

• French: grain
• German: Körnchen
• Italian: grano, granello
• Portuguese: grão, glóbulo
• Russian: зёрнышко
• Spanish: grano

• Portuguese: grão
• Russian: гран
• Spanish: grano

• Portuguese: grão

grain (grains, present participle graining; simple past and past participle grained)

1. To feed grain to.
2. (transitive) To make granular; to form into grains.
3. (intransitive) To form grains, or to assume a granular form, as the result of crystallization; to granulate.
4. To texture a surface in imitation of the grain of a substance such as wood.
5. (tanning) To remove the hair or fat from a skin.
6. (tanning) To soften leather.
7. To yield fruit.

• French: grener, grainer

• French: tanner

From Middle English grayn, from Old Norse grein, from Proto-Germanic *grainiz, of unknown origin.

grain (plural grains)

1. A branch of a tree; a stalk or stem of a plant; an offshoot.
2. A tine, prong, or fork.
   1. One of the branches of a valley or river.
   2. An iron fish spear or harpoon, with a number of points half-barbed inwardly.
      • 4 May 1770, Stephen Forwood (gunner on H.M. Bark Endeavour), journal (quoted by Parkin (page 195)

        Served 5 lb of fish per man which was caught by striking with grains

   3. A blade of a sword, knife, etc.
   4. An arm of a cross.
3. (founding) A thin piece of metal, used in a mould to steady a core.
4. (dialectal) A branch or arm of a stream, inlet, or sea.
5. (dialectal) A fork in a river valley or ravine.
6. (dialectal) The branch of a family; clan.
7. (dialectal, anatomy) The groin; crotch.
8. (dialectal, anatomy) The fangs of a tooth.

1. A village on the Isle of Grain (OS grid ref TQ8876).
2. Surname.