plural in form but singular or plural in construction
: coarsely ground hulled grain
especially: ground hominy with the germ removed
Example Sentences
Recent Examples on the WebContreras said the new menu was also an opportunity to play around with new dishes, like Southern shrimp and grits. Stefene Russell, The Salt Lake Tribune, 1 Sep. 2022 Marc Bona reports the bacon fried rice, honey lemon pepper wing dings, truffle oil greens, gumbo-style shrimp and grits and many others were exotic, creative and delicious. Cliff Pinckard, cleveland, 22 Aug. 2022 On her Southern comfort food menu: biscuits and gravy, shrimp and grits and, of course, honey-bee cake for dessert. People Staff, Peoplemag, 11 Aug. 2022 The 22 Square Restaurant & Bar inside the Andaz Savannah hotel offers more traditional coastal Southern fare like the ubiquitous shrimp and grits. Tracey Teo, ajc, 21 July 2022 His company also sells oatmeal, grits, pancake mix and syrup under the Momma Snoop banner. Natalie Neysa Alund, USA TODAY, 19 Aug. 2022 Snoop’s colorful cereal will raise money for multiple nonprofit organizations like Door of Hope along with the rest of his Broadus Foods products, which include oatmeal, grits, pancake mix and syrup under his Mama Snoop’s banner. Glenn Rowley, Billboard, 17 Aug. 2022 Broadus Foods, co-founded by Snoop and Master P, carries a range of Mama Snoop’s breakfast products, including cereal, oatmeal, grits, pancake mix, and syrup, with proceeds supporting the charitable organizations Door of Hope. Emily Zemler, Rolling Stone, 17 Aug. 2022 The James Beard award-winning restaurateur and chef prepared ricotta gnocchi with jerk summer corn, lobster ceviche, and an outrageous brunch of french toast topped with rum caramel and BBQ shrimp and grits. Jim Dobson, Forbes, 31 July 2022 See More
Word History
Etymology
late Old English grutta "bran, coarse meal," going back to Old English grytt "finely ground flour," going back to Germanic grutjō- or grutja- (whence also Middle Dutch gorte "groats, grits" [with metathesis], Middle Low German grütte, Old High German gruzzi), noun derivative from zero-grade of *greutan- "to grind, crush" — more at grit entry 1
Note: The history of this word prior to its appearance in the plural form grits in the seventeenth century is somewhat obscure. Slightly earlier than grits in printed works are greates (1594) and greyts (1597), which appear to have taken their form from descendants of Old English grēot "grit, gravel" (see grit entry 1), and a metathetic form gurts. Middle English evidence is lacking following the transitional Old English/Middle English forms grutta (Medicina de Quadrupedibus) and gruta (from a late copy of Ælfric's Old English-Latin glossary in the Worcester Fragments), with <u> presumably for /y/.