grok

Definition

To understand (something) intuitively, to know (something) without having to think intellectually.

Etymology

Coined by American author and aeronautical engineer Robert A. Heinlein in 1961 in his novel Stranger in a Strange Land. Heinlein invented the word for his fictitious Martian language. It is described as meaning “to drink” and, figuratively, “to drink in all available aspects of reality”, “to become one with the observed”. William Tenn later asked Heinlein if it could have been inspired by the term griggo, which featured in Tenn's Venus and the Seven Sexes (1949); Heinlein “looked startled, then thought about it for a long time (and) shrugged, (saying) ‘It's possible, very possible.’”

Example Sentences

• "I do not grok all fullness of what I read. In the history written by Master William Shakespeare I found myself full of happiness at the death of Romeo. Then I read on and learned that he had discorporated too soon – or so I thought I grokked. Why?"
• "In his movie—right right right—and they all grok over that. Grok―and then it's clear, without anybody having to say it."
• "He freely plucks notions and verbiage from science fiction to describe everything from mountain-related undertakings to political subterfuge – like "grok", a term from Robert Heinlein's Stranger in a Strange Land, to denote intuitive understanding."