To grieve is to feel or express deep sadness, especially after a loss. People grieve in different ways and for different lengths of time.
From Old French “grever,” meaning “to burden, afflict, cause pain,” from Latin “gravare,” “to make heavy,” from “gravis,” “heavy.” It shares roots with “grave” and “gravity.”
To grieve is, in older language, to be “made heavy.” The same root that gave us “gravity” (the force pulling us down) also gave us the word for deep sorrow pulling our feelings down.
Social norms around who is allowed to grieve publicly have been gendered, with women expected to perform certain mourning roles and men discouraged from visible grief. These norms influenced how literature and law described grieving behavior by gender.
Use ‘grieve’ for anyone, and avoid surprise or stigma when men or nonbinary people grieve openly. Don’t trivialize women’s grief as overreaction.
["mourn","lament","experience loss"]
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