Online Etymology Dictionary

grub (n.): "larva," early 15c., perhaps from grub (v.) on the notion of "digging insect," or from the possibly unrelated Middle English grub "dwarfish fellow" (c.1400). Meaning "dull drudge" is 1650s. The slang sense of "food" is first recorded 1650s, said to be from birds eating grubs, but also often linked with bub "drink."
grubber (n.): "digger," late 13c. as a surname, agent noun from grub (v.). Meaning "one who gets wealth contemptibly" is from 1570s.
grubby (adj.): "dirty," by 1845, from grub (n.) in a sense of "dirty child" (who presumably got that way from digging in earth) + -y (2). Earlier it was used in a sense of "stunted, dwarfish" (1610s) and "infested with grubs" (1725). Related: Grubbily; grubbiness.
grubelsucht (n.): 1876, from German Grübelsucht, psychiatric term for "a form of obsession in which even the simplest facts are compulsively queried," from grübeln "to brood" (see grub (v.)) + sucht "mania."
grubstake (n.): "material, provisions, etc. supplied to an enterprise (originally a prospector) in return for a share in the profits," by 1876, American English, from grub + stake (v.).
grubstreet: 1620s, "originally the name of a street in Moorfields in London, much inhabited by writers of small histories, dictionaries, and temporary poems; whence any mean production is called grubstreet" [Johnson]. Name changed 1830 to Milton Street (after a local developer) then erased entirely 1970s by the Barbicon complex.
grudge (v.): mid-15c., "to murmur, complain," variant of grutch. Meaning "to begrudge" is c.1500. Related: Grudged; grudges; grudging; grudgingly. The noun is mid-15c., from the verb.
gruel (n.): late 12c., "meal or flour made of beans, lentils, etc.," from Old French gruel "fine meal," from Frankish *grut (cf. Middle Dutch grute "coarse meal, malt;" Middle High German gruz "grain"), from PIE *ghreu- "to rub, grind" (see grit). Meaning "thin porridge or soup" is late 14c.
gruelling (adj.): also grueling, "exhausting, punishing," 1891, from late 18c. slang get one's gruel "receive one's punishment," from gruel.
gruesome (adj.): 1560s, from Middle English gruen "feel horror, shudder" (c.1300); not recorded in Old English or Norse, possibly from Middle Dutch gruwen or Middle Low German gruwen "shudder with fear" (cf. German grausam "cruel"), or from a Scandinavian source (cf. Danish grusom "cruel," grue "to dread," though others hold that these are Low German loan-words). One of the many Scottish words popularized in England by Scott's novels.
gruff (adj.): 1530s, "coarse, coarse-grained," from Middle Dutch or Middle Low German grof "coarse (in quality), thick, large," of uncertain origin, regarded by some as related to Old English hreof, Old Norse hrjufr "rough, scabby," with Germanic completive prefix ga-. Sense of "rough, surly" recorded by 1690s. Related: Gruffness.
gruffly (adv.): 1700, from gruff + -ly (2).
grumble (v.): 1580s, from Middle French grommeler "mutter between the teeth" or directly from Middle Dutch grommelen "murmur, mutter, grunt," from grommen "to rumble, growl." Imitative, or perhaps akin to grim. Related: Grumbled; grumbling.
grumble (n.): 1620s, from grumble (v.).
grump (n.): "ill-humor," 1727, in humps and grumps "surly remarks," later the grumps "a fit of ill-humor" (1844), then "a person in ill humor" (1900); perhaps an extended sense of grum "morose, surly," which probably is related to Danish grum "cruel;" or perhaps suggested by grumble, grunt, etc.
grumpy (adj.): 1778, from grump + -y (2). Related: Grumpily; grumpiness.
grundel (n.): type of fish, c.1500 (early 13c. as a surname), from grund "ground" (see ground (n.)) + -el. Cf. Old English gryndle "herring."
grundyism (n.): 1836, from Mrs. Grundy, prudish character in Thomas Morton's 1798 play "Speed the Plow," play and playwright otherwise now forgotten, but the line "What would Mrs. Grundy say?" became proverbial.
grunge (n.): "sloppiness," also "untidy person," 1965, American English teen slang, probably a back-formation from grungy. The music and fashion style that originated in Seattle is attested from the early 1990s.
grungy (adj.): "sloppy, shabby," 1965, American English slang, perhaps a blend of grubby and dingy.
grunion (n.): 1917, from American Spanish gruñon "grunting fish," from grunir "to grunt," from Latin grunnire, from Greek gryzein "to grunt," from gry "a grunt." The unrelated American fish called the grunt is "so called from the noise they make when taken."
grunt (v.): Old English grunnettan "to grunt," frequentative of grunian "to grunt," probably imitative (cf. Danish grynte, Old High German grunnizon, German grunzen "to grunt," Latin grunnire "to grunt"). Related: Grunted; grunting.
grunt (n.): 1550s, from grunt (v.); as a type of fish, from 1713; meaning "infantry soldier" emerged in U.S. military slang during Vietnam War (first recorded in print 1969); used since 1900 of various low-level workers. Grunt work first recorded 1977.
gruntle (v.): 1938, in gruntled "pleased, satisfied," a back-formation from disgruntled. The original verb (early 15c.) meant "to utter a little or low grunt."
grutch (v.): c.1200, grucchen, "to murmur, complain," from Old French grouchier "to murmur, to grumble," of unknown origin, probably ultimately imitative. Meaning "to begrudge" is c.1400. Cf. gruccild (early 13c.) "woman who complains," from grutch + suffix of unknown origin. Related: Grutched; grutching. As a noun from c.1400.
Gruyere: 1802, from Gruyère, the name of the Swiss town and surrounding district where the cheese is made. The place name is said to be ultimately from Latin grus "crane."
gryphon (n.): alternative spelling of griffin.
gu-: because g- followed by some vowels in English usually has a "soft" pronunciation, a silent -u- sometimes was inserted between the g- and the vowel in Middle English to signal hardness, especially in words from French; but this was not done with many Scandinavian words where hard "g" precedes a vowel (gear (n.), get (v.), give, etc.). Germanic -w- generally became -gu- in words borrowed into Romance languages, but Old North French preserved the Frankish -w-, and English sometimes borrowed both forms, hence guarantee/warranty, guard/ward, etc.
guacamole (n.): 1920, from American Spanish guacamole, originally Mexican, from Nahuatl ahuaca-molli, from ahuacatl "avocado" + molli "sauce."
Guadalcanal: largest of the Solomon Islands, discovered 1568 by Spanish explorer Álvaro de Mendaña de Neira and named for his hometown in Spain. The place name contains the Spanish form of Arabic wadi "river" which occurs in other Spanish place names (e.g. Guadalajara, from Arabic Wadi Al-Bajara "River of the Stones," either a parallel formation to or ultimately a translation of the ancient Iberian name for the river that gave the place its earlier name, based on caruca "stony;" Guadalquivir, from Arabic Al-Wadi Al-Kabir "Big River;" and Guadalupe, from the Arabic river word and the Roman name of the river, Lupus, literally "wolf").
Guam: from Chamorro Guahan, said to mean literally "what we have."
guanine (n.): 1850, from guano, from which the chemical first was isolated, + chemical suffix -ine (2).
guano (n.): c.1600, from Spanish guano "dung," especially of sea-birds on islands off Peru, from Quechua huanu "dung."
guarantee (n.): 1670s, alterted (perhaps via Spanish garante), from earlier garrant "warrant that the title to a property is true," early 15c., from Old French garant "defender, protector," from Germanic (see warrant). For form evolution, see gu-. Originally "person giving something as security;" sense of the "pledge" itself (which is properly a guaranty) developed 17c.
guarantee (v.): 1791, from guarantee (n.). Garanten in this sense is from early 15c. Related: Guaranteed; guaranteeing.
guarantor (n.): 1853, from guarantee with Latinate agent noun suffix -or substituted for -ee.
guaranty (n.): "act or fact of guaranteeing," 1520s, garrantye, from earlier garant (see guarantee) with influence from Old French garantie "protection, defense," originally past participle of garantir "to protect," from the same source. The sense of "pledge given as security" that developed 17c. in guarantee might reasonably have left the sense "act of guaranteeing" to this form of the word, but the forms remain confused.
guard (n.): early 15c., "one who keeps watch," from Middle French garde "guardian, warden, keeper; watching, keeping, custody," from Old French garder "to keep, maintain, preserve, protect" (corresponding to Old North French warder, see gu-), from Frankish *wardon, from Proto-Germanic *wardo- "to guard" (see ward (v.)). Abstract or collective sense of "a keeping, a custody" (as in bodyguard) also is from early 15c. Sword-play and fisticuffs sense is from 1590s. Guard-rail attested from 1860.
guard (v.): mid-15c., from guard (n.) or from Old French garder "to keep watch over, guard, protect" (see guard (n.)). Related: Guarded; guarding.
guarded (adj.): c.1500, past participle adjective from guard (v.). Meaning "reserved and cautious in speech, behavior, etc." is from 1728. Related: Guardedly; guardedness.
guardian (n.): early 14c., garden; early 15c., gardein, from Anglo-French gardein (late 13c.), from Old French gardien "keeper, custodian," earlier guarden, from Frankish *warding- (see guard (n.)). Guardian angel is from 1630s.
guardianship (n.): 1550s, from guardian + -ship.
Guatemala: from words in a native language, variously identified as Quauhtemellan "land of the eagle" or Uhatzmalha "mountain where water gushes."
guava (n.): 1550s, from Spanish guaya, variant of guayaba, from Arawakan (W. Indies) guayabo "guava tree" or Tupi guajava.
gubber-tushed (adj.): "Gubber Tushed is when teeth stand out, and not in order." [R. Holme, "Armoury," 1688].
Every Lover admires his Mistress, though she have ... a nose like a promontory, gubber-tushed, rotten teeth, (etc.). [Robert Burton, "Anatomy of Melancholy," 1621]
gubernatorial (adj.): 1734, formed in American English from Latin gubernator (see govern) + -al (1). As an English word, gubernator was in use from 1520s but is rare.
gudgeon (n.1): small freshwater fish, early 15c., from Middle French goujon, from Old French gojon (14c.), from Latin gobionem (nominative gobio), alteration of gobius, from Greek kobios, a kind of fish, of unknown origin. The figurative sense of "a credulous person" (one who will "bite" at "bait") is from 1580s.
gudgeon (n.2): "pivot on the end of a beam," c.1400, from Old French gojon "pin, peg, spike" (13c.), perhaps somehow an altered sense of gudgeon (n.1).
Guelph: one of the two great parties in medieval Italian politics, characterized by support of the popes against the emperors (opposed to the Ghibellines), 1570s, from Italian Guelfo, from Old High German Welf, name of a princely family that became the ducal house of Brunswick, literally "whelp," originally the name of the founder. The family are the ancestors of the present dynasty of Great Britain. The name is said to have been used as a war-cry at the Battle of Weinsberg (1140) by partisans of Henry the Lion, duke of Bavaria, who was of the family, against Emperor Conrad III; hence it was adopted in Italy as the name of the anti-imperial party.
guerdon (n.): "reward, recompense" (now only poetic), late 14c., from Old French guerdon, guerredon "reward, recompense, payment," from Medieval Latin widerdonum, from Old High German widarlon "recompense;" cf. Old English wiðerlean "requital, compensation," from wiðer "again" (see with) + lean "payment." Form influenced in Medieval Latin by Latin donum "gift." Cf. Spanish galardon, Italian guiderone.