See girn on Wiktionary
{
"etymology_templates": [
{
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "enm",
"3": "gyrnen"
},
"expansion": "Middle English gyrnen",
"name": "inh"
}
],
"etymology_text": "From Middle English gyrnen, a metathesised form of grinnen, grennen. More at grin.",
"forms": [
{
"form": "girns",
"tags": [
"present",
"singular",
"third-person"
]
},
{
"form": "girning",
"tags": [
"participle",
"present"
]
},
{
"form": "girned",
"tags": [
"participle",
"past"
]
},
{
"form": "girned",
"tags": [
"past"
]
},
{
"form": "gurn",
"tags": [
"alternative"
]
},
{
"form": "gurne",
"tags": [
"alternative"
]
}
],
"head_templates": [
{
"args": {},
"expansion": "girn (third-person singular simple present girns, present participle girning, simple past and past participle girned)",
"name": "en-verb"
}
],
"lang": "English",
"lang_code": "en",
"pos": "verb",
"senses": [
{
"categories": [],
"examples": [
{
"bold_text_offsets": [
[
83,
90
]
],
"ref": "1999, Jessica Stirling, The Wind from the Hills, St Martin's Press:",
"text": "At seventy-five or eighty I will be like a child myself, frail and cantankerous, a girning, burdensome old devil.",
"type": "quote"
}
],
"glosses": [
"To grimace; to snarl."
],
"id": "en-girn-en-verb-QqPtaWAc",
"links": [
[
"grimace",
"grimace"
],
[
"snarl",
"snarl"
]
],
"raw_glosses": [
"(dialectal) To grimace; to snarl."
],
"tags": [
"dialectal"
]
},
{
"categories": [
{
"kind": "other",
"name": "Northern England English",
"parents": [],
"source": "w"
},
{
"kind": "other",
"name": "Scottish English",
"parents": [],
"source": "w"
},
{
"_dis": "18 8 66 8",
"kind": "other",
"name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
"parents": [],
"source": "w+disamb"
},
{
"_dis": "10 11 73 6",
"kind": "other",
"name": "Pages with 1 entry",
"parents": [],
"source": "w+disamb"
},
{
"_dis": "8 9 78 6",
"kind": "other",
"name": "Pages with entries",
"parents": [],
"source": "w+disamb"
},
{
"_dis": "3 13 79 5",
"kind": "other",
"langcode": "en",
"name": "Facial expressions",
"orig": "en:Facial expressions",
"parents": [],
"source": "w+disamb"
}
],
"examples": [
{
"bold_text_offsets": [
[
17,
24
]
],
"ref": "2008, James Kelman, Kieron Smith, Boy, Penguin, published 2009, page 107:",
"text": "And Jim was just girning all the time. I telled him to shut it.",
"type": "quote"
}
],
"glosses": [
"To whinge, moan, complain."
],
"id": "en-girn-en-verb-YhQeOwaW",
"links": [
[
"whinge",
"whinge"
],
[
"moan",
"moan"
],
[
"complain",
"complain"
]
],
"raw_glosses": [
"(Scotland, Northern England) To whinge, moan, complain."
],
"tags": [
"Northern-England",
"Scotland"
]
},
{
"categories": [],
"glosses": [
"To make elaborate unnatural and distorted faces as a form of amusement or in a girning competition."
],
"id": "en-girn-en-verb-LE7C07ET",
"links": [
[
"elaborate",
"elaborate"
],
[
"unnatural",
"unnatural"
],
[
"distorted",
"distorted"
],
[
"amusement",
"amusement"
],
[
"girning",
"girning"
],
[
"competition",
"competition"
]
],
"raw_glosses": [
"(intransitive) To make elaborate unnatural and distorted faces as a form of amusement or in a girning competition."
],
"tags": [
"intransitive"
]
}
],
"sounds": [
{
"ipa": "/ɡɜː(ɹ)n/"
},
{
"audio": "LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-girn.wav",
"mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/0/0c/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-girn.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-girn.wav.mp3",
"ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/0/0c/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-girn.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-girn.wav.ogg"
}
],
"word": "girn"
}
{
"etymology_templates": [
{
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "enm",
"3": "gyrnen"
},
"expansion": "Middle English gyrnen",
"name": "inh"
}
],
"etymology_text": "From Middle English gyrnen, a metathesised form of grinnen, grennen. More at grin.",
"forms": [
{
"form": "girns",
"tags": [
"plural"
]
},
{
"form": "gurn",
"tags": [
"alternative"
]
},
{
"form": "gurne",
"tags": [
"alternative"
]
}
],
"head_templates": [
{
"args": {},
"expansion": "girn (plural girns)",
"name": "en-noun"
}
],
"lang": "English",
"lang_code": "en",
"pos": "noun",
"senses": [
{
"categories": [],
"examples": [
{
"ref": "2002, Richard J. Davidson, editor, Handbook of Affective Sciences, Oxford: University Press, page 569:",
"text": "A different vocalization, a girn, simiular to a cat's purring, was observed in infants reunited with their mothers...",
"type": "quote"
}
],
"glosses": [
"A vocalization similar to a cat's purring."
],
"id": "en-girn-en-noun-WQ-NL4Ek",
"links": [
[
"vocalization",
"vocalization"
],
[
"purring",
"purring"
]
],
"related": [
{
"word": "gowl"
}
]
}
],
"sounds": [
{
"ipa": "/ɡɜː(ɹ)n/"
},
{
"audio": "LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-girn.wav",
"mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/0/0c/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-girn.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-girn.wav.mp3",
"ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/0/0c/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-girn.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-girn.wav.ogg"
}
],
"word": "girn"
}
{
"categories": [
"English countable nouns",
"English entries with incorrect language header",
"English lemmas",
"English nouns",
"English terms derived from Middle English",
"English terms inherited from Middle English",
"English verbs",
"Pages with 1 entry",
"Pages with entries",
"en:Facial expressions"
],
"etymology_templates": [
{
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "enm",
"3": "gyrnen"
},
"expansion": "Middle English gyrnen",
"name": "inh"
}
],
"etymology_text": "From Middle English gyrnen, a metathesised form of grinnen, grennen. More at grin.",
"forms": [
{
"form": "girns",
"tags": [
"present",
"singular",
"third-person"
]
},
{
"form": "girning",
"tags": [
"participle",
"present"
]
},
{
"form": "girned",
"tags": [
"participle",
"past"
]
},
{
"form": "girned",
"tags": [
"past"
]
},
{
"form": "gurn",
"tags": [
"alternative"
]
},
{
"form": "gurne",
"tags": [
"alternative"
]
}
],
"head_templates": [
{
"args": {},
"expansion": "girn (third-person singular simple present girns, present participle girning, simple past and past participle girned)",
"name": "en-verb"
}
],
"lang": "English",
"lang_code": "en",
"pos": "verb",
"senses": [
{
"categories": [
"English dialectal terms",
"English terms with quotations"
],
"examples": [
{
"bold_text_offsets": [
[
83,
90
]
],
"ref": "1999, Jessica Stirling, The Wind from the Hills, St Martin's Press:",
"text": "At seventy-five or eighty I will be like a child myself, frail and cantankerous, a girning, burdensome old devil.",
"type": "quote"
}
],
"glosses": [
"To grimace; to snarl."
],
"links": [
[
"grimace",
"grimace"
],
[
"snarl",
"snarl"
]
],
"raw_glosses": [
"(dialectal) To grimace; to snarl."
],
"tags": [
"dialectal"
]
},
{
"categories": [
"English terms with quotations",
"Northern England English",
"Quotation templates to be cleaned",
"Scottish English"
],
"examples": [
{
"bold_text_offsets": [
[
17,
24
]
],
"ref": "2008, James Kelman, Kieron Smith, Boy, Penguin, published 2009, page 107:",
"text": "And Jim was just girning all the time. I telled him to shut it.",
"type": "quote"
}
],
"glosses": [
"To whinge, moan, complain."
],
"links": [
[
"whinge",
"whinge"
],
[
"moan",
"moan"
],
[
"complain",
"complain"
]
],
"raw_glosses": [
"(Scotland, Northern England) To whinge, moan, complain."
],
"tags": [
"Northern-England",
"Scotland"
]
},
{
"categories": [
"English intransitive verbs"
],
"glosses": [
"To make elaborate unnatural and distorted faces as a form of amusement or in a girning competition."
],
"links": [
[
"elaborate",
"elaborate"
],
[
"unnatural",
"unnatural"
],
[
"distorted",
"distorted"
],
[
"amusement",
"amusement"
],
[
"girning",
"girning"
],
[
"competition",
"competition"
]
],
"raw_glosses": [
"(intransitive) To make elaborate unnatural and distorted faces as a form of amusement or in a girning competition."
],
"tags": [
"intransitive"
]
}
],
"sounds": [
{
"ipa": "/ɡɜː(ɹ)n/"
},
{
"audio": "LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-girn.wav",
"mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/0/0c/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-girn.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-girn.wav.mp3",
"ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/0/0c/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-girn.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-girn.wav.ogg"
}
],
"word": "girn"
}
{
"categories": [
"English countable nouns",
"English entries with incorrect language header",
"English lemmas",
"English nouns",
"English terms derived from Middle English",
"English terms inherited from Middle English",
"English verbs",
"Pages with 1 entry",
"Pages with entries",
"en:Facial expressions"
],
"etymology_templates": [
{
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "enm",
"3": "gyrnen"
},
"expansion": "Middle English gyrnen",
"name": "inh"
}
],
"etymology_text": "From Middle English gyrnen, a metathesised form of grinnen, grennen. More at grin.",
"forms": [
{
"form": "girns",
"tags": [
"plural"
]
},
{
"form": "gurn",
"tags": [
"alternative"
]
},
{
"form": "gurne",
"tags": [
"alternative"
]
}
],
"head_templates": [
{
"args": {},
"expansion": "girn (plural girns)",
"name": "en-noun"
}
],
"lang": "English",
"lang_code": "en",
"pos": "noun",
"related": [
{
"word": "gowl"
}
],
"senses": [
{
"categories": [
"English terms with quotations"
],
"examples": [
{
"ref": "2002, Richard J. Davidson, editor, Handbook of Affective Sciences, Oxford: University Press, page 569:",
"text": "A different vocalization, a girn, simiular to a cat's purring, was observed in infants reunited with their mothers...",
"type": "quote"
}
],
"glosses": [
"A vocalization similar to a cat's purring."
],
"links": [
[
"vocalization",
"vocalization"
],
[
"purring",
"purring"
]
]
}
],
"sounds": [
{
"ipa": "/ɡɜː(ɹ)n/"
},
{
"audio": "LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-girn.wav",
"mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/0/0c/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-girn.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-girn.wav.mp3",
"ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/0/0c/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-girn.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-girn.wav.ogg"
}
],
"word": "girn"
}
Download raw JSONL data for girn meaning in All languages combined (4.7kB)
This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable All languages combined dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2025-12-23 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2025-12-02 using wiktextract (6fdc867 and 9905b1f). 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.
If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.