grizzly [E19th] A grizzly is a large North American bear which has brown fur with white-tipped hairs. Fearsome though the bear’s appearance is, its name has nothing to do with the word grisly (‘causing horror or disgust’). In fact grizzly is a variant of grizzled [LME], ‘streaked with grey hair’. Grizzly comes from Old French gris ‘grey’, whereas grisly is from Old English grislic, meaning ‘terrifying’. Grizzle [M18th] meaning ‘to cry or whine’ is a different word again. It started life in the dialect of Devon and Cornwall, and originally meant ‘to grin or laugh mockingly’, so has taken the opposite route to *grin.