"nitty-gritty" meaning in All languages combined

See nitty-gritty on Wiktionary

Noun [English]

IPA: /ˌnɪtiˈɡɹɪti/ [Received-Pronunciation], /ˈnɪtiˈɡɹɪti/ [General-American], [-ɾi-] [General-American] Audio: En-us-nitty-gritty.ogg
Rhymes: -ɪti Etymology: Of uncertain origin; said to have been first used by black jazz musicians from the United States, the word is perhaps a reduplication of gritty (“resembling grit”) (ultimately from Proto-Germanic *greutą (“grit”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʰrewd-) with alteration of the first syllable. An urban legend links the origin of the word to the debris remaining in the holds of slave ships after the slaves had been disembarked, but there is no evidence for this. The word is not attested early enough to have been associated with slavery. Etymology templates: {{root|en|ine-pro|*gʰrewd-}}, {{uncertain|en|nocap=1}} uncertain, {{reduplication|en|gritty|nocap=1|t=resembling grit}} reduplication of gritty (“resembling grit”), {{inh|en|gem-pro|*greutą|t=grit}} Proto-Germanic *greutą (“grit”), {{der|en|ine-pro|*gʰrewd-}} Proto-Indo-European *gʰrewd-, {{glossary|syllable}} syllable Head templates: {{en-noun|-}} nitty-gritty (uncountable)
  1. (originally US, colloquial, also attributively) The core or essence of something; the gist. Wikipedia link: Michael Quinion Tags: also, attributive, colloquial, uncountable Synonyms: brass tacks, nuts and bolts, gist Derived forms: nitty Translations (core or essence of something — see also gist): ydin (Finnish), aðalatriði [neuter] (Icelandic), grundvallar- (Icelandic), kjarni [masculine] (Icelandic), kas lācītim vēderā (Latvian), اصول (osul) (Persian), sedno [neuter] (Polish), meollo [masculine] (Spanish), pudelns kärna (Swedish), asıl mesele (Turkish), işin gerçek içyüzü (Turkish), işin gerçek yüzü (Turkish), konunun özü (Turkish)
{
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    "nit‧ty-grit‧ty"
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  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
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          "kind": "other",
          "name": "American English",
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      "derived": [
        {
          "word": "nitty"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "He gave a short summary without getting into the nitty-gritty of the problem.",
          "type": "example"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "The core or essence of something; the gist."
      ],
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          "core",
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          "gist"
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      "raw_glosses": [
        "(originally US, colloquial, also attributively) The core or essence of something; the gist."
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "brass tacks"
        },
        {
          "word": "nuts and bolts"
        },
        {
          "word": "gist"
        }
      ],
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        {
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "core or essence of something — see also gist",
          "word": "ydin"
        },
        {
          "code": "is",
          "lang": "Icelandic",
          "sense": "core or essence of something — see also gist",
          "tags": [
            "neuter"
          ],
          "word": "aðalatriði"
        },
        {
          "code": "is",
          "lang": "Icelandic",
          "sense": "core or essence of something — see also gist",
          "word": "grundvallar-"
        },
        {
          "code": "is",
          "lang": "Icelandic",
          "sense": "core or essence of something — see also gist",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "kjarni"
        },
        {
          "code": "lv",
          "lang": "Latvian",
          "sense": "core or essence of something — see also gist",
          "word": "kas lācītim vēderā"
        },
        {
          "code": "fa",
          "lang": "Persian",
          "roman": "osul",
          "sense": "core or essence of something — see also gist",
          "word": "اصول"
        },
        {
          "code": "pl",
          "lang": "Polish",
          "sense": "core or essence of something — see also gist",
          "tags": [
            "neuter"
          ],
          "word": "sedno"
        },
        {
          "code": "es",
          "lang": "Spanish",
          "sense": "core or essence of something — see also gist",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "meollo"
        },
        {
          "code": "sv",
          "lang": "Swedish",
          "sense": "core or essence of something — see also gist",
          "word": "pudelns kärna"
        },
        {
          "code": "tr",
          "lang": "Turkish",
          "sense": "core or essence of something — see also gist",
          "word": "asıl mesele"
        },
        {
          "code": "tr",
          "lang": "Turkish",
          "sense": "core or essence of something — see also gist",
          "word": "işin gerçek içyüzü"
        },
        {
          "code": "tr",
          "lang": "Turkish",
          "sense": "core or essence of something — see also gist",
          "word": "işin gerçek yüzü"
        },
        {
          "code": "tr",
          "lang": "Turkish",
          "sense": "core or essence of something — see also gist",
          "word": "konunun özü"
        }
      ],
      "wikipedia": [
        "Michael Quinion"
      ]
    }
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  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ˌnɪtiˈɡɹɪti/",
      "tags": [
        "Received-Pronunciation"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈnɪtiˈɡɹɪti/",
      "tags": [
        "General-American"
      ]
    },
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      "ipa": "[-ɾi-]",
      "tags": [
        "General-American"
      ]
    },
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      "audio": "En-us-nitty-gritty.ogg",
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    },
    {
      "rhymes": "-ɪti"
    }
  ],
  "word": "nitty-gritty"
}
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      "word": "nitty"
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  "etymology_text": "Of uncertain origin; said to have been first used by black jazz musicians from the United States, the word is perhaps a reduplication of gritty (“resembling grit”) (ultimately from Proto-Germanic *greutą (“grit”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʰrewd-) with alteration of the first syllable.\nAn urban legend links the origin of the word to the debris remaining in the holds of slave ships after the slaves had been disembarked, but there is no evidence for this. The word is not attested early enough to have been associated with slavery.",
  "head_templates": [
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      "args": {
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      "expansion": "nitty-gritty (uncountable)",
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  "hyphenation": [
    "nit‧ty-grit‧ty"
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  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
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        "English coordinated pairs",
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        {
          "text": "He gave a short summary without getting into the nitty-gritty of the problem.",
          "type": "example"
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      ],
      "glosses": [
        "The core or essence of something; the gist."
      ],
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          "essence",
          "essence"
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        ]
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        "(originally US, colloquial, also attributively) The core or essence of something; the gist."
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "brass tacks"
        },
        {
          "word": "nuts and bolts"
        },
        {
          "word": "gist"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "also",
        "attributive",
        "colloquial",
        "uncountable"
      ],
      "wikipedia": [
        "Michael Quinion"
      ]
    }
  ],
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    {
      "ipa": "/ˌnɪtiˈɡɹɪti/",
      "tags": [
        "Received-Pronunciation"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈnɪtiˈɡɹɪti/",
      "tags": [
        "General-American"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "[-ɾi-]",
      "tags": [
        "General-American"
      ]
    },
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      "audio": "En-us-nitty-gritty.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/b/bd/En-us-nitty-gritty.ogg/En-us-nitty-gritty.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bd/En-us-nitty-gritty.ogg"
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    {
      "rhymes": "-ɪti"
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  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "core or essence of something — see also gist",
      "word": "ydin"
    },
    {
      "code": "is",
      "lang": "Icelandic",
      "sense": "core or essence of something — see also gist",
      "tags": [
        "neuter"
      ],
      "word": "aðalatriði"
    },
    {
      "code": "is",
      "lang": "Icelandic",
      "sense": "core or essence of something — see also gist",
      "word": "grundvallar-"
    },
    {
      "code": "is",
      "lang": "Icelandic",
      "sense": "core or essence of something — see also gist",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "kjarni"
    },
    {
      "code": "lv",
      "lang": "Latvian",
      "sense": "core or essence of something — see also gist",
      "word": "kas lācītim vēderā"
    },
    {
      "code": "fa",
      "lang": "Persian",
      "roman": "osul",
      "sense": "core or essence of something — see also gist",
      "word": "اصول"
    },
    {
      "code": "pl",
      "lang": "Polish",
      "sense": "core or essence of something — see also gist",
      "tags": [
        "neuter"
      ],
      "word": "sedno"
    },
    {
      "code": "es",
      "lang": "Spanish",
      "sense": "core or essence of something — see also gist",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "meollo"
    },
    {
      "code": "sv",
      "lang": "Swedish",
      "sense": "core or essence of something — see also gist",
      "word": "pudelns kärna"
    },
    {
      "code": "tr",
      "lang": "Turkish",
      "sense": "core or essence of something — see also gist",
      "word": "asıl mesele"
    },
    {
      "code": "tr",
      "lang": "Turkish",
      "sense": "core or essence of something — see also gist",
      "word": "işin gerçek içyüzü"
    },
    {
      "code": "tr",
      "lang": "Turkish",
      "sense": "core or essence of something — see also gist",
      "word": "işin gerçek yüzü"
    },
    {
      "code": "tr",
      "lang": "Turkish",
      "sense": "core or essence of something — see also gist",
      "word": "konunun özü"
    }
  ],
  "word": "nitty-gritty"
}

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This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable All languages combined dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-09-22 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-09-20 using wiktextract (af5c55c and 66545a6). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

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