What does grue mean?
Grue is a rare English word with two closely related forms: as a verb, it means to feel disgust or loathing, and as a noun, it names that feeling. Its modern use is chiefly literary, archaic, or deliberately unusual, so it can sound affected in ordinary conversation. The word became a minor curiosity when Edgar Allan Poe proposed it as the past tense of “grew,” giving it a memorable place in discussions of English word formation. That literary notoriety can overshadow the older sense in which grue simply described disgust or revulsion. A writer might use it to create a gothic, severe, or old-fashioned atmosphere, although “disgust” or “revulsion” would usually communicate the idea more directly. Grue remains useful chiefly as an uncommon vocabulary word whose unusual history is as notable as its meaning.
To feel disgust or loathing at something.
"She grued at the thought of entering the abandoned hospital."
The verb is rare and usually literary, archaic, or deliberately unsettling in effect.
A feeling of disgust, loathing, or revulsion.
"Even the photographs conveyed a disturbing sense of grue."
The noun is uncommon and has a strongly literary or archaic flavor.
The plural is possible but rare, as the noun normally appears in singular contexts.
"Those images prompted fresh grues in the witness."
Poe proposed “grue” as the past tense of “grew,” turning an obscure word into a permanent curiosity of English lexicography.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Related word forms
How grue is actually used
Grue is rare and chiefly literary, archaic, or deliberately unusual in modern English. Outside historical or gothic contexts, ordinary words such as “disgust,” “revulsion,” and “loathe” will usually sound more natural. Poe’s proposal of the word as the past tense of “grew” is a literary conceit rather than the usual modern meaning.
Easily confused with grue
Grew is the ordinary past tense of grow, whereas grue is a rare word associated chiefly with disgust or loathing, though Edgar Allan Poe famously proposed it as an alternative past tense of grew.