"gris-gris" meaning in English

See gris-gris in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Noun

Forms: gris-gris [plural]
Etymology: Unknown. Compare juju (“a fetish or charm”); compare also Mande gerregery or Mandingo gregory, an amulet or curse-object. Etymology templates: {{unk|en}} Unknown, {{cog|dmn|gerregery}} Mande, {{cog|man|gregory}} Mandingo gregory Head templates: {{en-noun|gris-gris}} gris-gris (plural gris-gris)
  1. An African, or Afro-American, charm or talisman. Synonyms: greegree, gri-gri, grigri, grisgris Related terms: conjuration, conjure [noun], hoodoo Translations (charm): grigri [masculine] (French)
    Sense id: en-gris-gris-en-noun-oIdhDSfU Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header

Alternative forms

Download JSON data for gris-gris meaning in English (1.9kB)

{
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en"
      },
      "expansion": "Unknown",
      "name": "unk"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "dmn",
        "2": "gerregery"
      },
      "expansion": "Mande",
      "name": "cog"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "man",
        "2": "gregory"
      },
      "expansion": "Mandingo gregory",
      "name": "cog"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "Unknown. Compare juju (“a fetish or charm”); compare also Mande gerregery or Mandingo gregory, an amulet or curse-object.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "gris-gris",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "gris-gris"
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      "expansion": "gris-gris (plural gris-gris)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
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          "source": "w"
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      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1865, David Livingstone, Charles Livingstone, Narrative of an Expedition to the Zambesi and Its Tributaries",
          "text": "A horn, or rude image, is sometimes made use of as a means of preserving the medicines of defense, and is worn as an amulet. These images, horns, or other articles, called greegrees, or jeujeus, are not held sacred for a moment after the medicine is found to have lost its power […].",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2008, Ned Sublette, The World That Made New Orleans, Lawrence Hill Books, published 2009, page 61",
          "text": "The Bambara were not Muslim, but they knew how to make gris-gris.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "An African, or Afro-American, charm or talisman."
      ],
      "id": "en-gris-gris-en-noun-oIdhDSfU",
      "links": [
        [
          "charm",
          "charm"
        ],
        [
          "talisman",
          "talisman"
        ]
      ],
      "related": [
        {
          "word": "conjuration"
        },
        {
          "tags": [
            "noun"
          ],
          "word": "conjure"
        },
        {
          "word": "hoodoo"
        }
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "greegree"
        },
        {
          "word": "gri-gri"
        },
        {
          "word": "grigri"
        },
        {
          "word": "grisgris"
        }
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "code": "fr",
          "lang": "French",
          "sense": "charm",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "grigri"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "gris-gris"
}
{
  "etymology_templates": [
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      "expansion": "Unknown",
      "name": "unk"
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      "args": {
        "1": "dmn",
        "2": "gerregery"
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      "expansion": "Mande",
      "name": "cog"
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        "2": "gregory"
      },
      "expansion": "Mandingo gregory",
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    }
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  "etymology_text": "Unknown. Compare juju (“a fetish or charm”); compare also Mande gerregery or Mandingo gregory, an amulet or curse-object.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "gris-gris",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
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  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "gris-gris"
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  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "related": [
    {
      "word": "conjuration"
    },
    {
      "tags": [
        "noun"
      ],
      "word": "conjure"
    },
    {
      "word": "hoodoo"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English countable nouns",
        "English entries with incorrect language header",
        "English indeclinable nouns",
        "English lemmas",
        "English multiword terms",
        "English nouns",
        "English nouns with irregular plurals",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "English terms with unknown etymologies",
        "Quotation templates to be cleaned"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1865, David Livingstone, Charles Livingstone, Narrative of an Expedition to the Zambesi and Its Tributaries",
          "text": "A horn, or rude image, is sometimes made use of as a means of preserving the medicines of defense, and is worn as an amulet. These images, horns, or other articles, called greegrees, or jeujeus, are not held sacred for a moment after the medicine is found to have lost its power […].",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2008, Ned Sublette, The World That Made New Orleans, Lawrence Hill Books, published 2009, page 61",
          "text": "The Bambara were not Muslim, but they knew how to make gris-gris.",
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        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "An African, or Afro-American, charm or talisman."
      ],
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  "synonyms": [
    {
      "word": "greegree"
    },
    {
      "word": "gri-gri"
    },
    {
      "word": "grigri"
    },
    {
      "word": "grisgris"
    }
  ],
  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "fr",
      "lang": "French",
      "sense": "charm",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "grigri"
    }
  ],
  "word": "gris-gris"
}

This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-06-04 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-05-02 using wiktextract (e9e0a99 and db5a844). 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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