French word

grêle

Pronunciation

IPA/gʁɛl/

Meaning

  • feminine nounhail

Example

Hier, il est tombé de la grêle pendant l'orage.

Yesterday, hail fell during the storm.

Illustration for grêle (hail)

More examples

La grêle a cassé les vitres de la serre.

The hail broke the greenhouse windows.

Core concept

A storm shower made of small lumps of ice instead of liquid drops.

Common phrases

  • tomber de la grêle

    hail

  • une grêle violente

    heavy hail

Similar words

pluie: Liquid water falling from the sky as precipitation.
neige: White ice crystals falling from the sky as precipitation.

Definition in French

Précipitation solide formée de grains ou de petits blocs de glace qui tombent pendant une tempête.

Word origin

The French noun grêle comes through Old French from Latin grando, with the older form referring to hail.

Usage tips

  • Individual hailstones are called des grêlons, while grêle normally names the precipitation as a mass.

Other meanings

  • slenderadjective
  • thinadjective

Opposites

Related words

  • grêlerhailverb
  • grêlédamaged by hailadjective
  • grêlonhailstonenoun

Word lists with this word