overwordExplorer
ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

grok.

To understand (something) intuitively, to know (something) without having to think intellectually.

4 characters1 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

verb/ˈɡɹɒk/UK/ˈɡɹɑk/US
  1. To understand (something) intuitively, to know (something) without having to think intellectually.

    slang · transitive
  2. To fully and completely understand something in all of its details and intricacies.

    slang · transitive
    I finally grok Perl.
    I find it exceedingly doubtful that any person groks quantum mechanics.
Where this word comes from

Coined ex nihilo by American author and engineer Robert A. Heinlein in 1961 in his novel Stranger in a Strange Land. Heinlein invented the word for his fictitious Martian language. It is described as meaning "to drink" and, figuratively, "to drink in all available aspects of reality", "to become one with the observed". William Tenn asked Heinlein if it could have been inspired by the term griggo, which featured in Tenn's "Venus and the Seven Sexes" (1949); Heinlein "looked startled, then thought about it for a long time (and) shrugged, (saying) 'It's possible, very possible.'"

FROM WORD TO NAME

Try it on your idea.

grok has 4 characters. Say it out loud, try it alongside a description of your project, and see whether its meaning fits what you want to create.

grok studiogrok workshello, grok

These are naming prompts. Meanings and pronunciation can vary; existing brand and domain uses have not been checked.

Explore the name generator

A word with a source.

Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.