greyn

Borrowed from Old French grain, from Latin grānum, from Proto-Indo-European *ǵr̥h₂nóm. Doublet of corn.

• grayn, greyne, grayne, grein, grone

• IPA^(key): /ɡrɛi̯n/

greyn (plural greynes)

1. Any kind of seed or planting body:
   1. A grain of any kind of grain or cereal, especially used as food.
   2. A seed or stone of a fruit, corn, or nut; a pepper corn.
   3. A seed or germ of a plant that is not a grain or fruit.
   4. A grain or seed used as a unit of weight.
2. Any plant that bears grain, especially wheat; a field planted with such plants.
3. A small mote or speckle of dust; especially of valuable substances:
   1. Any kind of spice or condiment; especially grains of paradise.

      • a. 1400, Geoffrey Chaucer, “The Knight's Tale”, in The Canterbury Tales, line 3690-3691:

        But first he cheweth greyn and lycorys / To smellen sweete, er he hadde kembd his heer.

        Though first he chews spices and licorice, / To smell sweet before he'd combed his hair.

   2. A mole, bole or boil; a bodily imperfection.
4. grain (die made with crushed insects, or a similar long-lasting dye)
5. An article of fabric dyed with grain.

• engreynen
• grayned
• greynen
• greynyng

• English: grain
• Scots: grain

• “grain (n.)” in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-07-09.

Borrowed from Old Norse grein.

greyn

1. Alternative form of grayn