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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

grow.

To become larger, to increase in magnitude.

4 characters1 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

verb/ˈɡɹəʊ/Received-Pronunciation/ˈɡɹɵ̞ʊ/Received-Pronunciation[ˈɡɾoː]Scotland/ˈɡɾou̯/
  1. To become larger, to increase in magnitude.

    ergative
    Children grow quickly.
  2. To undergo growth; to be present (somewhere).

    ergative
    Apples now grow all over the world.
  3. To appear or sprout.

    intransitive
    Leaf buds grew on the trees with the advance of spring.
    A long tail began to grow from his backside.
  4. To develop, to mature.

    intransitive
    As I grew throughout adolescence, I came to appreciate many things about human nature.
  5. To cause or allow something to become bigger, especially to cultivate plants.

    transitive
    He grows peppers and squash each summer in his garden.
    Have you ever grown your hair before?
  6. To assume a condition or quality over time.

    copulative
    The boy grew wise as he matured.
    My cares grew less (and less) until they evanesced completely.
  7. To become attached or fixed; to adhere.

    intransitive · obsolete
Where this word comes from

From Middle English growen, from Old English grōwan (“to grow, increase, flourish, germinate”), from Proto-West Germanic *grōan, from Proto-Germanic *grōaną (“to grow, grow green”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʰreh₁- (“to grow, become green”). Cognates Cognate with Dutch groeien (“to grow”), German Low German grojen (“to green; thrive; take hold; flourish”), Danish, Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk, and Swedish gro (“to grow”), Faroese grógva (“to grow”), Icelandic gróa (“to grow”); also Latin grāmen (“grass, turf; herb, plant”), herba (“grass, herbage; weeds; plant”), Ukrainian гря́ний (hrjányj, “green”). Related to growth, grass, green.

noun/ˈɡɹəʊ/Received-Pronunciation/ˈɡɹɵ̞ʊ/Received-Pronunciation[ˈɡɾoː]Scotland/ˈɡɾou̯/
  1. An illicit cannabis farm.

Where this word comes from

From Middle English growen, from Old English grōwan (“to grow, increase, flourish, germinate”), from Proto-West Germanic *grōan, from Proto-Germanic *grōaną (“to grow, grow green”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʰreh₁- (“to grow, become green”). Cognates Cognate with Dutch groeien (“to grow”), German Low German grojen (“to green; thrive; take hold; flourish”), Danish, Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk, and Swedish gro (“to grow”), Faroese grógva (“to grow”), Icelandic gróa (“to grow”); also Latin grāmen (“grass, turf; herb, plant”), herba (“grass, herbage; weeds; plant”), Ukrainian гря́ний (hrjányj, “green”). Related to growth, grass, green.

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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.