gravelly

Meaning

1. Full of, covered with, or similar to gravel or pebbles.
2. Of a voice: unpleasantly harsh or rasping.
3. Caused by or involving gravel (“kidney stones”).
4. (obsolete) Full of or covered with sand; sandy.

Synonyms

pebbly

gritty

shingly

rough

stony

scratchy

rasping

raspy

grating

rugged

sandy

scabrous

talc-like

rubbly

coarse

gravely

dusty

gnarled

gnarly

grainy

harsh

powdered

powdery

ragged

Translations

áspero

ernst

kieshaltig

kiesig

uneben

accidenté

aspre

χαλικώδης

harsch

raspós

âpre

bourru

gravier

rugós

Pronounced as (IPA)

/ˈɡɹævəli/

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English: gravelli

Cognate with French: gravelle

Cognate with French: grève

In summary

From Middle English gravelli (“covered with gravel or sand; (pathology) containing sand-like matter”), from gravel (“sand; grain of stand; gravel, pebbles; (pathology) sand-like matter in the urine, calculus”) + -lī (suffix forming adjectives). Gravel is derived from Old French gravel, gravele, gravelle (“gravel; (pathology) calculus”) (modern French gravelle (“(pathology) calculus”)), from grave (“coarse sand, gravel; seashore”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *gʰreh₁w- (“to grind”); modern French grève (“riverbank; shore, strand”)) + -ele (diminutive suffix). The English word is analysable as gravel + -y (suffix forming adjectives meaning ‘having the quality of’).