Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Grotto |
GrottoNoun1. A small cave (usually with attractive features). Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "grotto" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1050. (references) |
Etymology: Grotto \Grot"to\, noun; plural Grottoes. [Formerly grotta, from Italian grotta, Late Latin expression grupta, from the Latin expression crypta con cealed subterranran passage vault, cavern, Greek, from concealed, from to conceal. Compare to Grot, Crypt.]. (references) |
| Domain | Definition |
Dream Interpretation | To see a grotto in your dreams, is a sign of incomplete and inconstant friendships. Change from comfortable and simple plenty will make showy poverty unbearable. Source: Ten Thousand Dreams Interpreted .... |
Literature | Grotto Pray remember the grotto. July 25 new style, and August 5 old style, is the day dedicated to St. James the Greater; and the correct thing to do in days of yore was to stick a shell in your hat or coat, and pay a visit on that day to the shrine of St. James of Compostella. Shell grottoes with an image of the saint were erected for the behoof of those who could not afford such pilgrimage, and the keeper of it reminded the passer-by to remember it was St. James's Day, and not to forget their offering to the saint. Source: Brewer's Dictionary. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
Synonym: GrottoSynonym: grot (n). (additional references) |
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Concavity | Valley, vale, dale, dell, dingle, combe, bottom, slade, strath, glade, grove, glen, cave, cavern, cove; grot, grotto; alcove, cul-de-sac; gully; arch; (curve); bay; (of the sea). |
Receptacle | Conservatory, greenhouse, bower, arbor, summerhouse, alcove, grotto, hermitage. |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
Crosswords: Grotto |
| English words defined with "grotto": Grottoes, Grotto-work ♦ Lupercal ♦ Souterrain. (references) |
| Specialty definitions using "grotto": cueva ♦ The Blind. (references) |
| Etymologies containing "grotto": Grotesgue. (references) |
| Domain | Usage | |
Lyrics | I gazed at the grotto aglow in the light (The Village Of St. Bernadette; performing artist: Andy Williams; writing credit: Eula Parker) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| Domain | Title |
Books | |
Music |
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Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Thumbnail | Description & Credit | Thumbnail | Description & Credit |
 | In the Grotta del Genovese. This small grotto has paintings dating back some 6,000 years, including the outline of a tuna and the outline of a dolphin. Credit: Fisheries. |  | A tier of ledges in a grotto near Booger Canyon. Credit: Christine Maxa. |
 | U.S. American National Red Cross Naval Hospital, London, England. : Sailors sunning themselves on the rock grotto sun porch. Credit: National Library of Medicine. |  | Grotto at Las Mercedes, Caracas, Venezuela. Credit: Library of Congress. |
 | Child's Grotto, Delaware Water Gap. Credit: Library of Congress. |  | Grotto, Mill Creek Park, near Batavia, The. Credit: Library of Congress. |
 | Asulkan Glacier from ice grotto, Selkirk Mts., B.C. Credit: Library of Congress. |  | Grotto and spring, soldiers' home, Dayton, O[hio]. Credit: Library of Congress. |
 | Crater of Grotto Geyser. Credit: Library of Congress. |  | Grotto in church. Saint Martinville, Louisiana. Sculpture work was done by local Negro. Credit: Library of Congress. |
Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits. | |||
 |
| "Grotto" by Louise Ingram Commentary: "Entrance to the Grotto at Goldney, Bristol, England. The inside of the grotto is completely encrusted with shells from all over the world!." |
Source: photographs selected by the editor, with permission from the photographers. |
| Speaker | Phrase(s) |
Martha Stewart | That they've created entire rooms out of things like pine scales. Entire rooms. And I went to a place in England where there was a grotto that is completely encrusted with shells. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| "Grotto" is generally used as a noun (singular) -- approximately 98.86% of the time. "Grotto" is used about 88 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Noun (singular) | 98.86% | 87 | 35,390 |
| Noun (proper) | 1.14% | 1 | 339,140 |
| Total | 100.00% | 88 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
| Hyphenated Usage | |
Beginning with "grotto": grotto-garden, Grotto-work. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Language | Translations for "grotto"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | |
Afrikaans | grot (cave, cavern, den). (various references) | |
Albanian | gufë (cave), varr në formë shpelle, shpellë (cave, cavern). (various references) | |
Arabic | كهف (cave, cavern), غار (bay, be jealous, pothole). (various references) | |
Bulgarian | изкуствена пещера. (various references) | |
Czech | sluj (cave, cavern), jeskynì (cave, cavern). (various references) | |
Danish | grotte (cave). (various references) | |
Dutch | grot (cave, cavern, den). (various references) | |
Esperanto | groto (cave). (various references) | |
Faeroese | helli (cave). (various references) | |
Farsi | غار (Cave, Cavern, Crypt, Den, Vault). (various references) | |
Finnish | luola (cave, den, hole, lair). (various references) | |
French | grotte. (various references) | |
German | Grotte (cave). (various references) | |
Greek | σπηλιά (cave). (various references) | |
Hebrew | מערה (cave, cavern, den). (various references) | |
Hungarian | grotta (grot, grottoes), barlang (cave, cavern, cove, delve, den, grot, grottoes). (various references) | |
Indonesian | gua (cave, den). (various references) | |
Italian | grotta (cave, cavern). (various references) | |
Japanese Kanji | 洞穴 (cave, den), 洞 (cave, den), 岩穴 (cavern), 岩屋 (cavern), 岩屋 (cavern). (various references) | |
Japanese Katakana | どうけつ (being buried in the same grave, cave, den), ほらあな (cave, den), ほら (boast, brag, cave, den), いわあな (cavern), いわや (cavern). (various references) | |
Manx | ooig (antar, cave, cavern, den, hotbed, pit, stope). (various references) | |
Norwegian | grotte (cave, cavern, den). (various references) | |
Pig Latin | ottogray.(various references) | |
Portuguese | gruta (cave, cavern), caverna (antre, delve, den, haunt, hollow, lair). (various references) | |
Romanian | grotã (cave, cavern, den, grot), peşterã (cave, cavern). (various references) | |
Russian | грот (mainsail). (various references) | |
Serbo-Croatian | pećina (cave, cove). (various references) | |
Spanish | cueva (cave, cavern, cellar, den, nest, pothole), gruta (cave). (various references) | |
Swedish | grotta (cave, cavern). (various references) | |
Thai | ถ้ำ (cave, cavern). (various references) | |
Turkish | yapay süslü mağara, mağara (cave, cavern, den). (various references) | |
Ukrainian | грот (mainsail), печера (antre, cabin, cave, cavern). (various references) | |
Welsh | ogof (cave, cavern, den). (various references) | |
Yucatec | aktun (cave, cavern, den). (various references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references. | ||
| Language | Period | Translations |
| Greek | 700 BCE-300 CE | krypte. (various references) |
| Latin | 500 BCE-Modern | antrum, caverna, crypta, specubus, specum, specus, spelunca. (various references) |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "grotto": grottoes, grottos. (additional references) | |
| |
"Grotto" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: Garotta, goto, gotta, gotto, gratta, grett, grette, grito, Gritok, grodd, Groote, Grota, groti, grotta, grotte, Grotti, grottoe, grotton, grtt, grutte, Gurtovoi, Rotto. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "grotto" (pronounced grÄ"tō') |
| 3 | -Ä" t ō' | legato, Lotto, ostinato, Otto, staccato. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "g-o-o-r-t-t" | |
-1 letter: torot. | |
-2 letters: grot, otto, root, roto, toot, toro, tort, trot. | |
-3 letters: goo, gor, got, oot, ort, rot, tog, too, tor, tot. | |
-4 letters: go, or, to. | |
| Words containing the letters "g-o-o-r-t-t" | |
+1 letter: dogtrot, grottos. | |
+2 letters: dogtrots, grottoes. | |
+3 letters: forgotten, outgrowth. | |
+4 letters: contorting, corotating, dogtrotted, ghostwrote, negotiator, outgrowths, outrooting, outwrought, proglottid, proglottis, rattooning, teratology, throughout, troglodyte. | |
+5 letters: dogtrotting, forethought, foxtrotting, gerontocrat, metrologist, negotiators, negotiatory, nonrotating, outthrowing, outtowering, outtrotting, overthought, petrologist, proglottids, protagonist, protonating, prototyping, rototilling, scattergood, teratologic, thoroughest, tribologist, trimetrogon, troglodytes, troglodytic. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Crosswords 4. Usage: Modern | 5. Usage: Commercial 6. Images: Slideshow 7. Images: Photo Album 8. Images: Digital Art | 9. Quotations: Spoken 10. Usage Frequency 11. Expressions 12. Expressions: Internet | 13. Translations: Modern 14. Translations: Ancient 15. Derivations 16. Rhymes | 17. Anagrams 18. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
