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• gram
  gram

  noun

  a metric unit of mass or weight equal to 15.432 grains; one thousandth of a kilogram. g
• Gram
  Gram

  noun

  (in theVolsunga Saga ) the sword of Sigmund, broken by Odin, repaired by Regin, and used again by Sigurd in killing Fafnir.
• -gram
  -gram

  a combining form occurring in loanwords from Greek, where it meant “something written,” “drawing” (epigram; diagram ); on this model, used in the formation of compound words (oscillogram ).
• gram.
  gram.

  abbreviation

  grammar.

gram

¹ American  

[gram] / græm /

especially British, gramme

noun

1. a metric unit of mass or weight equal to 15.432 grains; one thousandth of a kilogram. g

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gram ² American  

[gram] / græm /

noun

1. (in the East Indies) the chickpea used as a food for people and cattle.

2. any of several other beans, as the mung bean, Vigna radiata green gram, or golden gram, or the urd, V. mungo black gram.

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Gram ³ American  

[grahm] / grɑm /

noun

1. (in theVolsunga Saga ) the sword of Sigmund, broken by Odin, repaired by Regin, and used again by Sigurd in killing Fafnir.

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-gram ⁴ American  

1. a combining form occurring in loanwords from Greek, where it meant “something written,” “drawing” (epigram; diagram ); on this model, used in the formation of compound words (oscillogram ).

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-gram ⁵ American  

1. a combining form of gram.

   kilogram.

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-gram ⁶ American  

1. a combining form extracted from telegram, used in the formation of compound words that have the general sense “message, bulletin”.

   culturegram; electiongram; prophecy-gram.

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gram. ⁷ American  

abbreviation

1. grammar.

2. grammarian.

3. grammatical.

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gram ¹ British  

/ ɡrɑːm /

noun

1. (in India) a village

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gram. ² British  

abbreviation

1. grammar

2. grammatical

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gram ³ British  

/ ɡræm /

noun

1. g. a metric unit of mass equal to one thousandth of a kilogram. It is equivalent to 15.432 grains or 0.002 205 pounds

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-gram ⁴ British  

combining form

1. indicating a drawing or something written or recorded

   hexagram

   telegram

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gram ⁵ British  

/ ɡræm /

noun

1. any of several leguminous plants, such as the beans Phaseolus mungo ( black gram or urd ) and P. aureus ( green gram ), whose seeds are used as food in India

2. the seed of any of these plants

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gram ¹ Scientific  

/ grăm /

1. A unit of mass in the metric system, equal to 0.001 kilogram or 0.035 ounce.

2. See Table at measurement

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Gram ² Scientific  

/ gräm,grăm /

1. Danish bacteriologist who in 1884 developed a method of staining bacteria, called Gram's stain or Gram's dye, that is used to identify and classify bacteria, often from samples of infected body fluids. The classification, called gram-negative or gram-positive, can be useful in the initial selection of antibiotics to treat the infection.

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gram Cultural  

1. The basic unit of measurement for mass in the metric system; one cubic centimeter of water has a mass of approximately one gram.

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Usage

What does -gram mean? The combining form -gram is used like a suffix that has three distinct senses. The first of these senses is “something written” or "drawing" and this form of -gram is frequently used in a variety of scientific and technical terms. This meaning of -gram comes from Greek grámma, meaning “something written or drawn.”The second of these senses is “gram,” as in "one-thousandth of a kilogram," and this form of -gram is occasionally used in a variety of technical terms. This meaning of -gram also ultimately comes from Greek grámma but in the sense of "a small weight."The third of these senses is “message; bulletin.” This form of -gram is very occasionally used in a variety of technical terms, and its meaning is extracted from telegram. Find out more about the word telegram at our entry for the word.

Etymology

Origin of gram¹

1790–1800; < French gramme < Late Latin gramma a small weight < Greek grámma something drawn, a small weight

Origin of gram²

First recorded in 1695–1705; from Portuguese grão, from Latin grānum “seed, grain, kernel”; see origin at grain

Origin of Gram³

From the Old Norse word Gramr literally, angry, evil

Origin of -gram⁴

< Greek -gramma, combining form of grámma something written or drawn; akin to carve

Explanation

A gram is a unit of measurement. Some doctors recommend eating one gram of protein for each kilogram of body weight. Because a gram is a metric unit — in this case, measuring the mass of some object or substance — it isn't used as commonly in the US as it is in Britain and Canada, where metric measurements are standard. Still if you examine an American food label, you'll almost always see the mass in grams listed. The Greek root of gram is gramma, or "small weight."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

gram Gram gram.

Because these plant foods generally contain fewer calories per gram, participants could continue eating generous portions while taking in less energy overall.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 17, 2026

According to miners who spoke to AFP, their sale price per gram was around $118.

From Barron's ● Aug. 9, 2026

"In our tests with ambient air, we were able to extract 97 milligrams of CO2 with one gram of material," explains Zhou Dong, a postdoctoral researcher in Mezzenga's group and lead author of the study.

From Science Daily ● Jun. 11, 2026

This is all the more impressive considering that the brains of some birds—like those cream-filching tits—weigh less than a gram.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 22, 2026

Every gram counts when making stuff to send to Mars.

From "The Martian" by Andy Weir

In Gram Yatra, Husain used vibrant, earthy tones to bring 13 frames to life, with women in everyday scenes such as cooking, caring for children and riding a cart.

From BBC ● Mar. 28, 2025

Husain painted Gram Yatra - or village journey - in 1954, long before he became an icon.

From BBC ● Mar. 28, 2025

“There’s a much larger discussion to be had about Gram Parsons than the one that we’ve been having for the last 40 years,” she says.

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 20, 2023

“Pardon me for saying,” Bartley said in a phone interview, “but a couple of times, Gram probably couldn’t even stand up too well.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 20, 2023

A world where Gram could fix anything with a twinkle of her eye.

From "How to Disappear Completely" by Ali Standish

Decomposed with potash and changed into silver salt, it gave 0.4404 gram. of silver salt = 0.2437 gram. of silver.

From The Art of Perfumery And Methods of Obtaining the Odors of Plants by George William Septimus Piesse

The powder was administered by mixing 1 gram. with each cereal feeding.

From The Vitamine Manual by Walter H. Eddy

Related Words

• ancestor
• grandma
• granny
• matriarch