"nitty-gritty" meaning in English

See nitty-gritty in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Adjective

IPA: /ˌnɪtiˈɡɹɪti/ [Received-Pronunciation], /ˈnɪtiˈɡɹɪti/ [General-American], [-ɾi-] [General-American] Audio: En-us-nitty-gritty.ogg Forms: more nitty-gritty [comparative], most nitty-gritty [superlative]
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-adj}} nitty-gritty (comparative more nitty-gritty, superlative most nitty-gritty)
  1. (colloquial) Dealing with something in great depth. Tags: colloquial
    Sense id: en-nitty-gritty-en-adj-2Hcf4GDz Categories (other): English coordinated pairs, English entries with incorrect language header, English reduplications, Entries with translation boxes, Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries, Terms with Finnish translations, Terms with German translations, Terms with Icelandic translations, Terms with Latvian translations, Terms with Persian translations, Terms with Polish translations, Terms with Spanish translations, Terms with Swedish translations, Terms with Turkish translations Disambiguation of English coordinated pairs: 52 48 Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 74 26 Disambiguation of English reduplications: 69 31 Disambiguation of Entries with translation boxes: 61 39 Disambiguation of Pages with 1 entry: 76 24 Disambiguation of Pages with entries: 76 24 Disambiguation of Terms with Finnish translations: 61 39 Disambiguation of Terms with German translations: 65 35 Disambiguation of Terms with Icelandic translations: 60 40 Disambiguation of Terms with Latvian translations: 61 39 Disambiguation of Terms with Persian translations: 59 41 Disambiguation of Terms with Polish translations: 63 37 Disambiguation of Terms with Spanish translations: 75 25 Disambiguation of Terms with Swedish translations: 60 40 Disambiguation of Terms with Turkish translations: 60 40

Noun

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. 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), Wesentliche [neuter] (German), 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)
    Sense id: en-nitty-gritty-en-noun-TgjmU~xL Categories (other): American English, English coordinated pairs Disambiguation of English coordinated pairs: 52 48
     
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          "code": "fi",
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          "code": "de",
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          "word": "grundvallar-"
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          "word": "kjarni"
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          "code": "lv",
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          "word": "kas lācītim vēderā"
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          "roman": "osul",
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          "word": "اصول"
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          "word": "pudelns kärna"
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          "word": "asıl mesele"
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          "word": "işin gerçek içyüzü"
        },
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          "word": "işin gerçek yüzü"
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        {
          "text": "1976, United States. National Commission on Arthritis and Related Musculoskeletal Diseases, Arthritis - Out of the Maze\nWe deal with them at a very, very nitty gritty level, and we deal with the results of years and years of problems that they've had in the past."
        }
      ],
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        "Dealing with something in great depth."
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        "(colloquial) Dealing with something in great depth."
      ],
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        }
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    {
      "code": "fi",
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      "sense": "core or essence of something — see also gist",
      "word": "ydin"
    },
    {
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      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "core or essence of something — see also gist",
      "tags": [
        "neuter"
      ],
      "word": "Wesentliche"
    },
    {
      "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"
  ],
  "word": "nitty-gritty"
}

{
  "categories": [
    "English adjectives",
    "English coordinated pairs",
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English lemmas",
    "English multiword terms",
    "English nouns",
    "English reduplications",
    "English terms derived from Proto-Germanic",
    "English terms derived from Proto-Indo-European",
    "English terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *gʰrewd-",
    "English terms inherited from Proto-Germanic",
    "English terms with unknown etymologies",
    "English uncountable nouns",
    "Entries with translation boxes",
    "Pages with 1 entry",
    "Pages with entries",
    "Rhymes:English/ɪti",
    "Rhymes:English/ɪti/4 syllables",
    "Terms with Finnish translations",
    "Terms with German translations",
    "Terms with Icelandic translations",
    "Terms with Latvian translations",
    "Terms with Persian translations",
    "Terms with Polish translations",
    "Terms with Spanish translations",
    "Terms with Swedish translations",
    "Terms with Turkish translations"
  ],
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "ine-pro",
        "3": "*gʰrewd-"
      },
      "expansion": "",
      "name": "root"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "nocap": "1"
      },
      "expansion": "uncertain",
      "name": "uncertain"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "gritty",
        "nocap": "1",
        "t": "resembling grit"
      },
      "expansion": "reduplication of gritty (“resembling grit”)",
      "name": "reduplication"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "gem-pro",
        "3": "*greutą",
        "t": "grit"
      },
      "expansion": "Proto-Germanic *greutą (“grit”)",
      "name": "inh"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "ine-pro",
        "3": "*gʰrewd-"
      },
      "expansion": "Proto-Indo-European *gʰrewd-",
      "name": "der"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "syllable"
      },
      "expansion": "syllable",
      "name": "glossary"
    }
  ],
  "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.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "more nitty-gritty",
      "tags": [
        "comparative"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "most nitty-gritty",
      "tags": [
        "superlative"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "nitty-gritty (comparative more nitty-gritty, superlative most nitty-gritty)",
      "name": "en-adj"
    }
  ],
  "hyphenation": [
    "nit‧ty-grit‧ty"
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "adj",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English colloquialisms"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "1976, United States. National Commission on Arthritis and Related Musculoskeletal Diseases, Arthritis - Out of the Maze\nWe deal with them at a very, very nitty gritty level, and we deal with the results of years and years of problems that they've had in the past."
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Dealing with something in great depth."
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(colloquial) Dealing with something in great depth."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "colloquial"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ˌnɪtiˈɡɹɪti/",
      "tags": [
        "Received-Pronunciation"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈnɪtiˈɡɹɪti/",
      "tags": [
        "General-American"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "[-ɾi-]",
      "tags": [
        "General-American"
      ]
    },
    {
      "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"
    },
    {
      "rhymes": "-ɪti"
    }
  ],
  "wikipedia": [
    "Michael Quinion"
  ],
  "word": "nitty-gritty"
}

Download raw JSONL data for nitty-gritty meaning in English (8.8kB)

This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2025-04-10 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2025-04-03 using wiktextract (74c5344 and fb63907). 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.