Grok

Pronunciation

• UK IPA: /ˈɡɹɒk/
• US IPA: /ˈɡɹɑk/

Origin

Coined by Robert A. Heinlein in his novel (1961) in which the word is described as being from the word for “to drink” and, figuratively, “to drink in all available aspects of reality”, “to become one with the observed” in Heinlein’s fictitious Martian language.

Full definition of grok

Verb

1. (transitive, slang) To have or to have acquired an intuitive understanding of; to know (something) without having to think (such as knowing the number of objects in a collection without needing to count them: see subitize).
• 1961 , Robert A. Heinlein , Stranger in a Strange Land Chapter , 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?
• 1968 , The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test
• 2008 , , Leslie Anthony , Running from Babylon , 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.
2. (transitive, slang) To fully and completely understand something in all its details and intricacies.He groks Perl.I find it exceedingly doubtful that any person groks quantum mechanics.
• 2008 , , Stanley Bing , New Help for Hodads , Today we take a few moments to help you grok some of the ways that victims of TU can up their hipness – if we may use that term without being considered old school.

Usage notes

Grok is used mainly by the geek subculture, though it was heavily used by the counterculture of the 1960s, as evidenced by its repeated appearance in Tom Wolfe's “The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test.”