Groin Meaning
/ˈɡɹoɪ̯n/ ~ /ˈɡɹɔɪ̯n/Definition, CEFR level C2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
nounThe crease or depression of the human body at the junction of the trunk and the thigh, together with the surrounding region.
nounThe area adjoining this fold or depression.
Sentence Examples
Mary kicked Tom in the groin.
Groin injuries can be quite painful.
I have an itch in my groin area.
CEFR Practice Quiz
The player was hit in the ____ and fell to the ground in agony.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The soccer player suffered a painful ____ injury during the second half of the game and had to be substituted.
Word Origin & History
From earlier grine, from Middle English grinde, grynde, from Old English grynde (“abyss”) (perhaps also "depression, hollow"), probably related to Proto-Germanic *grunduz; see ground. Later altered under the influence of loin.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"The Mexican levelled nine minutes from time after Steven Gerrard, making his first start since undergoing groin surgery in April, put Liverpool ahead with a 68th-minute free-kick."
— 2011 October 15, Phil McNulty, “Liverpool 1 - 1 Man Utd”, in BBC Sport:
"My friend […] discovered in his early teen years a passion for both men and opera. He frequented the Met to satisfy his ear but had little knowledge or experience of where to find partners and satisfy his groin."
— 1981 December 5, Michael Bronski, “Coming (Out) to Opera”, in Gay Community News, volume 9, number 20, page 5:
"The part of the village in which I resided was a grove of cocoa-nut trees, and at night, when the dead leaves were sometimes collected together and burnt, the effect was most magnificent - the tall stems, the fine crowns of foliage, and the immense fruit-clusters, being brilliantly illuminated against a dark sky, and appearing like a fairy palace supported on a hundred columns, and groined over with leafy arches."
— 1869, Alfred Russel Wallace, The Malay Archipelago, volume II, London: Macmillan and Co., page 50:
"Down some profound dull tunnel, long since scooped / Through granites which titanic wars had groined."
— 1918, Wilfred Owen, Strange Meeting:
"Beares, that groynd continually"
— 1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book VI, Canto XII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 27:
Explore More C2 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The player was hit in the ____ and fell to the ground in agony.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The soccer player suffered a painful ____ injury during the second half of the game and had to be substituted.