Word.ws English Dictionary

grawlix

Syllables: graw·lix/ˈɡɹɔːlɪks/US/ˈɡɹɔlɪks/

grawlix noun: an image resembling an illegible scribble used for this purpose.

Noun

grawlix (plural grawlixes or grawlix)

  1. An image resembling an illegible scribble used for this purpose.
    • There is a wealth of comicana waiting for the student with enough drive and depth of understanding. Once he masters the secret of the waftarom, the solrad, and the grawlix, he can mix in any art circle but he's own his own from here on.1975, Mort Walker, “50-50 or Fight”, in Backstage at the Strips, [New York, N.Y.]: A&W Visual Library, →ISBN, page 31
    • Even in today's permissive society many four letter words are not permissible in the comics. […] So the creative mind came up with a variety of "jarns," "quimps," "nittles," and "grawlixes" to help convey a sergeant's strong emotion and add color and dimension to his personality.1980, Mort Walker, “Indicia”, in The Lexicon of Comicana, Authors Guild Backinprint.com edition, Lincoln, Neb.: iUniverse, published 2000, →ISBN, page 52
  2. A string of typographical symbols (such as "@#$%&!") used for this purpose.
    • When Chicago-based author and illustrator Anders Nilsen was a political-minded college student at University of New Mexico, grawlix granted him a glimmer of fame. Demonstrating against a newly-enacted law, Nilsen wielded a hand-painted sign reading "F*&# Proposition 187." […] As a fellow comic...2011 May 18, Heidi Stevens, “What the grawlix?”, in Chicago Tribune, Chicago, Ill.: Tribune Publishing, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 16 Nov 2022
    • The symbols that work best are those that fill up space: @, #, $, %, and &. Hyphens, plus signs, asterisks and carets (^) leave too much white space within the body of the grawlix for it to look like a single word. […] Because it represents words spoken in anger or excitement, the grawlix should...2014, Bill Schmalz, edited by Sabita Naheswaran, The Architect’s Guide to Writing: For Design and Construction Professionals, Mulgrave, Vic.: The Images Publishing Group, →ISBN, page 88
    Synonyms:
    obscenicon
  3. A series of violence-related images (such as bombs, daggers, and skulls) used for this purpose.

Examples of grawlix in a sentence

  • He has noises for the nittles, the grawlix, the quimps, the jarns.1995 February 21, William H[oward] Gass, “Culp”, in The Tunnel, Normal, Ill.: Dalkey Archive Press, published 2014, →ISBN, page 159:
  • When Chicago-based author and illustrator Anders Nilsen was a political-minded college student at University of New Mexico, grawlix granted him a glimmer of fame.2011 May 18, Heidi Stevens, “What the grawlix?”, in Chicago Tribune, Chicago, Ill.: Tribune Publishing, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the...
  • Finally, as a word of caution, you should reserve your use of grawlixes for emails to close friends.2014, Bill Schmalz, edited by Sabita Naheswaran, The Architect’s Guide to Writing: For Design and Construction Professionals, Mulgrave...
  • It's a verbal stinkbomb, a middle finger from a car window, the equivalent of what is called, in the comic-strip trade, grawlixes: @%&&#!!2021 June 20, Jim Beckerman, “Matters of Fact: Why do people hate newspapers?”, in Daily Record, volume 34, number 205, Parsippany, N.J....

Synonyms of grawlix

Forms of grawlix

pluralgrawlixes
pluralgrawlix

Origin of grawlix

A meaningless word coined by the American comic strip writer Mort Walker (1923–2018) in a humorous article entitled “Let’s Get Down to Grawlixes” published in The Cartoonist (1964), possibly influenced by growl.

Words that rhyme with grawlix

Questions about grawlix

What does grawlix mean?
Grawlix means an image resembling an illegible scribble used for this purpose.
How do you use grawlix in a sentence?
He has noises for the nittles, the grawlix, the quimps, the jarns.
What part of speech is grawlix?
Grawlix is a noun.
How do you pronounce grawlix?
Grawlix is pronounced /ˈɡɹɔːlɪks/ (UK).
What is the plural of grawlix?
The plural of grawlix is grawlixes.

Words near grawlix in the dictionary

  1. gravylike
  2. Grawe
  3. Grawes
  4. Grawin Opal Fields
  5. grawl
  6. grawlix
  7. grawlixes
  8. grawls
  9. grax
  10. gray
  11. gray ace

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: grawlix (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-grawlix.wav.

Cite this entry: “grawlix.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/grawlix. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.