different between granular vs grain

English

Etymology

From granule +? -ar. Compare French granulaire.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /???æn.j?.l?(?)/

Adjective

granular (comparative more granular, superlative most granular)

1. Consisting of, or resembling, granules or grains

   a granular substance

2. grainy

   It has a granular structure

   • 1790, Abraham Mills, Some Strata in Ireland and Scotland, in Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, Vol. 80

     This Whyn Dyke is bare at the cliffs ?everal yards in height, and is near nine feet in width. It con?i?ts of an inner part of a granular and ?omewhat porous texture...

Usage notes

• It is common to speak of things being "more granular" or "less granular", but this is potentially confusing: something "granular" is composed of small, discrete entities as opposed to being continuous, which is primarily a binary distinction, not a matter of degree. Moreover, it is unclear if "more granular" and "less granular" indicate finer or coarser granularity. For example, granular sugar is so called because it consists of relatively large grains, in contrast with powdered sugar, so "more granular" sugar might be coarser, like a grainier or "more granular" photograph with larger and thus more visible grains. In other cases, "more granular" indicates finer, more plentiful grains or divisions. For clarity, one can refer specifically to finer or coarser granularity. In the superlative, one may refer to finest or coarsest granularity.

Synonyms

• granulous; see also Thesaurus:granular

Derived terms

• granularity

Related terms

• coarse-grained
• fine-grained
• grain
• granulate
• granulation
• granule

Translations

References

• granular in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• granular in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• Merriam-Webster OnLine 2008

Interlingua

Adjective

granular (not comparable)

1. granular (in the shape of grains)

Romanian

Etymology

From French granulaire

Adjective

granular m or n (feminine singular granular?, masculine plural granulari, feminine and neuter plural granulare)

1. granular

Declension

Spanish

Adjective

granular (plural granulares)

1. granular

Verb

granular (first-person singular present granulo, first-person singular preterite granulé, past participle granulado)

1. to granulate

Conjugation

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /??e?n/
• Rhymes: -e?n

Etymology 1

From Middle English greyn, grayn, grein, from Old French grain, grein, from Latin gr?num (“seed”), from Proto-Indo-European *?r?h?nóm (“grain”). Compare English corn. Doublet of gram.

Noun

grain (countable and uncountable, plural grains)

1. (uncountable) The harvested seeds of various grass food crops eg: wheat, corn, barley.

2. (uncountable) Similar seeds from any food crop, e.g., buckwheat, amaranth, quinoa.
3. (countable) A single seed of grass food crops.

4. (countable, uncountable) The crops from which grain is harvested.

5. (uncountable) A linear texture of a material or surface.

6. (countable) A single particle of a substance.

7. (countable) A very small unit of weight, in England equal to ¹?₄₈₀ of an ounce troy, 0.0648 grams or, to be more exact, 64.79891 milligrams (0.002285714 avoirdupois ounce). A carat grain or pearl grain is ¹?₄ carat or 50 milligrams. The old French grain was ¹?₉₂₁₆ livre or 53.11 milligrams, and in the mesures usuelles permitted from 1812 to 1839, with the livre redefined as 500 grams, it was 54.25 milligrams.
8. (countable) A former unit of gold purity, also known as carat grain, equal to ¹?₄ "carat" (karat).
9. (materials) A region within a material having a single crystal structure or direction.
10. A reddish dye made from the coccus insect, or kermes; hence, a red color of any tint or hue, as crimson, scarlet, etc.; sometimes used by the poets as equivalent to Tyrian purple.
    • a. 1825, Quoted by Coleridge, preface to Aids to Reflection:

      […] doing as the dyers do, who, having first dipped their silks in colours of less value, then give them the last tincture of crimson in grain.

11. The hair side of a piece of leather, or the marking on that side.

    (Can we find and add a quotation of Knight to this entry?)

12. (in the plural) The remains of grain, etc., after brewing or distillation; hence, any residuum. Also called draff.
13. (botany) A rounded prominence on the back of a sepal, as in the common dock.
14. Temper; natural disposition; inclination.
    • 1630, John Hayward, The Life and Raigne of King Edward VI

      brothers […] not united in grain

15. (photography, videography) Visual texture in processed photographic film due to the presence of small particles of a metallic silver, or dye clouds, developed from silver halide that have received enough photons.

Derived terms

• against the grain
• grain of salt
• grainy

Related terms

Translations

See also

• cereal
• Appendix:Grains – translation tables for various grains

Verb

grain (third-person singular simple present grains, present participle graining, simple past and past participle grained)

1. To feed grain to.
2. (transitive) To make granular; to form into grains.
3. (intransitive) To form grains, or to assume a granular form, as the result of crystallization; to granulate.
4. To texture a surface in imitation of the grain of a substance such as wood.
5. (tanning) To remove the hair or fat from a skin.
6. (tanning) To soften leather.
7. To yield fruit.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Gower to this entry?)

Translations

Etymology 2

From Middle English grayn, from Old Norse grein.

Noun

grain (plural grains)

1. A branch of a tree; a stalk or stem of a plant.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of G. Douglas to this entry?)

2. A tine, prong, or fork.
   1. One of the branches of a valley or river.
   2. An iron fish spear or harpoon, with a number of points half-barbed inwardly.
      • 4 May 1770, Stephen Forwood (gunner on H.M. Bark Endeavour), journal (quoted by Parkin (page 195)

        Served 5 lb of fish per man which was caught by striking with grains

   3. A blade of a sword, knife, etc.
3. (founding) A thin piece of metal, used in a mould to steady a core.

Further reading

• grain in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• grain in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

Anagrams

• A ring, Ngari, Nigra, Ragin, Rigan, agrin, nigra, raign, raing

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /????/
• Rhymes: -??

Etymology 1

From Middle French, from Old French grain, grein, from Latin gr?num, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *?r?h?nóm.

Noun

grain m (plural grains)

1. grain
2. (figuratively) a small amount, a bit

Derived terms

• avoir un grain
• grain de beauté
• gros-grain
• mettre son grain de sel
• ramener son grain de sel
• séparer le bon grain de l'ivraie
• veiller au grain

Related terms

• grenier

Etymology 2

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Noun

grain m (plural grains)

1. (nautical) squall, thunderstorm

Derived terms

Anagrams

• garni

Further reading

• “grain” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Middle English

Verb

grain

1. Alternative form of greynen

Old French

Alternative forms

• grein

Etymology

From Latin gr?num.

Noun

grain m (oblique plural grainz, nominative singular grainz, nominative plural grain)

1. grain (edible part of a cereal plant)

Related terms

• grenier / guernier

Descendants

• Middle French: grain
  • French: grain
• ? Middle English: greyn, grayn, greyne, grayne, grein, grone
  • English: grain
  • Scots: grain
  • Yola: gryne