grunt / grənt/ • v. [intr.] (of an animal, esp. a pig) make a low, short guttural sound. ∎  (of a person) make a low inarticulate sound resembling this, typically to express effort or indicate assent.• n. 1. a low, short guttural sound made by an animal or a person. 2. inf. a low-ranking or unskilled soldier or other worker. ∎  a common soldier. 3. an edible shoaling fish (family Pomadasyidae) of tropical inshore waters and coral reefs, able to make a loud noise by grinding its teeth and amplifying the sound in the swim bladder.ORIGIN: Old English grunnettan, of Germanic origin and related to German grunzen; probably originally imitative.

Pomadasyidae (javelinfish, grunt; subclass Actinopterygii, order Perciformes) A large family of marine, perchlike fish that have large eyes, a truncated tail fin, a long dorsal fin, and strong spines to the dorsal and pelvic fins. There are about 175 species, distributed worldwide.

grunt make the characteristic sound of a pig. OE. grunnettan = OHG. grunnizōn (G. grunzen), intensive formation on the imit. base *ʒrun- (OE. grunian grunt, OHG. grun wailing, MHG. grunnen); cf. DISGRUNTLED.

grunt
1. See POMADASYIDAE.

2. See THERAPONIDAE.