grain
n. C / Un. a small, hard seed from plants like wheat, rice, or corn. It can also mean a tiny piece of something, like a grain of sand or salt.
n. the small, hard seed of a cereal grass; by extension, a minute, hard particle of a substance such as sand or salt.
The farmer harvests the grain in late summer.
Whole grain bread is generally considered more nutritious than white bread because it contains more fiber.
The forensic investigator found a single grain of red sand in the carpet, which eventually linked the suspect to the specific coastal region where the crime occurred.
From Middle English greyn, grayn, grein, from Old French grain, grein, from Latin grānum (“seed”), from Proto-Indo-European *ǵr̥h₂nóm (“grain”). Doublet of corn, gram, granum, and grao.
From Middle English grayn, from Old Norse grein (“bough, branch”), from Proto-Germanic *grainiz (“branch, twig, ramification”), of unknown origin. Related to English grove (“thicket”).
Uncountable when referring to the gathered crop or food category; countable when referring to individual particles or specific botanical seeds.