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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

sand.

Rock that is ground more finely than gravel, but is not as fine as silt (more formally, see grain sizes chart), forming beaches and deserts and also used in construction.

4 characters1 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/sænd/Canada, General-American, Received-Pronunciation[seənd] ~ [sɛənd]/sand/British, Northern-England, Scotland, Southern, Standard, Wales/sæːnd/Australia
  1. Rock that is ground more finely than gravel, but is not as fine as silt (more formally, see grain sizes chart), forming beaches and deserts and also used in construction.

    uncountable · usually
  2. Rock that is ground more finely than gravel, but is not as fine as silt (more formally, see grain sizes chart), forming beaches and deserts and also used in construction. A specific grade, type, or composition of sand.

    countable · usually
  3. Rock that is ground more finely than gravel, but is not as fine as silt (more formally, see grain sizes chart), forming beaches and deserts and also used in construction. A beach or other mass of sand.

    countable · in-plural · often · usually
    The Canadian tar sands are a promising source of oil.
  4. Personal courage.

    dated · uncountable · usually
  5. A particle from 62.5 microns to 2 mm in diameter, following the Wentworth scale.

    uncountable · usually
  6. A light beige colour, like that of typical sand.

    uncountable · usually
  7. A single grain of sand.

    countable · obsolete · usually
  8. A moment or interval of time; the term or extent of one's life (referring to the sand in an hourglass).

    countable · figuratively · usually
  9. Dried mucus in the eye's inner corner, perhaps left from sleep (sleepy sand).

    uncountable · usually
  10. Dried mucus in the eye's inner corner, perhaps left from sleep (sleepy sand). "sand in [someone's] eyes" (idiom)

    figuratively · uncountable · usually
  11. Dried mucus in the eye's inner corner, perhaps left from sleep (sleepy sand). An excuse for tears.

    uncountable · usually
Where this word comes from

Etymology tree substratebor. Proto-Indo-European *sámdʰos? Proto-Germanic *samdaz Proto-West Germanic *samd Old English sand Middle English sond English sand Inherited from Middle English sond, sand, from Old English sand, from Proto-West Germanic *samd, from Proto-Germanic *samdaz. See also North Frisian sun, Sön, sönj (“sand”), Saterland Frisian Sound (“sand”), West Frisian sân (“sand”), Dutch zand (“sand”), German and Luxembourgish Sand (“sand”), Yiddish זאַמד (zamd, “sand”), Danish, Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk, and Swedish sand (“sand”), Faroese and Icelandic sandur (“sand”), Latin sabulum (“sand, gravel”), Ancient Greek ἄμαθος (ámathos, “sand”), English dialectal samel (“sand bottom”), Old Irish do·essim (“to pour out”), Latin sentina (“bilge water”), Lithuanian sémti (“to scoop”), Ancient Greek ἀμάω (amáō, “to gather”), ἄμη (ámē, “water bucket”).

adj/sænd/Canada, General-American, Received-Pronunciation[seənd] ~ [sɛənd]/sand/British, Northern-England, Scotland, Southern, Standard, Wales/sæːnd/Australia
  1. Of a light beige colour, like that of typical sand.

Where this word comes from

Etymology tree substratebor. Proto-Indo-European *sámdʰos? Proto-Germanic *samdaz Proto-West Germanic *samd Old English sand Middle English sond English sand Inherited from Middle English sond, sand, from Old English sand, from Proto-West Germanic *samd, from Proto-Germanic *samdaz. See also North Frisian sun, Sön, sönj (“sand”), Saterland Frisian Sound (“sand”), West Frisian sân (“sand”), Dutch zand (“sand”), German and Luxembourgish Sand (“sand”), Yiddish זאַמד (zamd, “sand”), Danish, Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk, and Swedish sand (“sand”), Faroese and Icelandic sandur (“sand”), Latin sabulum (“sand, gravel”), Ancient Greek ἄμαθος (ámathos, “sand”), English dialectal samel (“sand bottom”), Old Irish do·essim (“to pour out”), Latin sentina (“bilge water”), Lithuanian sémti (“to scoop”), Ancient Greek ἀμάω (amáō, “to gather”), ἄμη (ámē, “water bucket”).

verb/sænd/Canada, General-American, Received-Pronunciation[seənd] ~ [sɛənd]/sand/British, Northern-England, Scotland, Southern, Standard, Wales/sæːnd/Australia
  1. To abrade the surface of (something) with sand or sandpaper in order to smooth or clean it.

    transitive
  2. To cover with sand.

    transitive
  3. To blot ink using sand.

    historical · transitive
Where this word comes from

From Middle English sanden, from the noun (see above).

noun/sænd/Canada, General-American, Received-Pronunciation[seənd] ~ [sɛənd]/sand/British, Northern-England, Scotland, Southern, Standard, Wales/sæːnd/Australia
  1. Ellipsis of sandpiper.

    abbreviation · alt-of · colloquial · ellipsis
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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.