grizzled

American  

[griz-uhld] / ˈgrɪz əld /

adjective

1. having gray or partly gray hair.

2. gray or partly gray.

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grizzled British  

/ ˈɡrɪzəld /

adjective

1. streaked or mixed with grey; grizzly; griseous

2. having grey or partly grey hair

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Other Word Forms

• ungrizzled
  adjective

Etymology

Origin of grizzled

1350–1400; Middle English. See grizzle ¹, -ed ³

Explanation

If someone's hair is streaked with gray, you can describe it as grizzled. Your dad's grizzled beard might need a trim by the end of your two-week camping trip. As well as a good way to talk about the silvery hair (or facial hair) itself, you can also describe a person as grizzled. Before he went totally white-haired, Santa Claus must have been grizzled. This adjective comes from a 14th-century noun, grizzle, which meant both "gray-haired old man" and "gray horse," and probably came from the Old French grisel, "gray."

Example Sentences

The singer himself told The Times in 1992 that the album’s hit ballad, in which a grizzled narrator blubbers over the one that got away, “had a real strong emotional peak on the record.”

From Los Angeles Times • May 6, 2026

But it remains to be seen whether AI tools can reliably beat the projections of grizzled pros on Wall Street.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 7, 2026

Compare them to the grizzled, huffy statesmen who previously played those roles, especially in the 2002 ITV adaptation.

From Salon • Mar. 28, 2026

Duvall often said his favorite role, however, was one he played in a 1989 TV mini-series -- the grizzled, wise-cracking Texas Ranger-turned-cowboy Augustus McCrae in "Lonesome Dove," based on the novel by Larry McMurtry.

From Barron's • Feb. 16, 2026

This was a tall man of between forty and fifty, lean of figure, brown of skin, with hair slightly grizzled round the temples.

From "Murder on the Orient Express" by Agatha Christie