Grim Reaper

English

The Grim Reaper

Etymology

grim +‎ reaper, first attested 1847. The word grim previously had a stronger meaning ("fierce, angry, sinister") and had more of an association with ghostliness (compare Old English grima (“specter, apparition”), English grim (n.)). The association between grim and death dates back to at least the late 16th century (the line "grim death, how foul and loathsome is thine image" appears in Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew around 1590). The reaper element comes from the personification of Death as a reaper (harvester) of souls in connection to to the popular depiction of Death wielding a scythe. The symbol of the scythe itself comes from a partially unintentional conflation of Cronus (the Titan associated with the harvest, said to have used his scythe to castrate his father Uranus) and Chronos (the personification of Father Time).

Pronunciation

(Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈɡɹɪm ˈɹiː.pə/
(US) IPA^(key): /ˈɡɹɪm ˈɹi.pɚ/

Proper noun

Grim Reaper (plural Grim Reapers)

A personification of Death as an old man, or a skeleton, carrying a scythe, taking souls to the afterlife.
- 2019 March 6, Drachinifel, The Battle of Samar (Alternate History) - Bring on the Battleships!‎, archived from the original on 4 July 2022, retrieved 10 July 2022, 25:58 from the start:
  On the one hand, we had a scenario where, effectively, the American admiral just went "You know what, all the destroyers attack", at which point they mowed through the Japanese destroyers like a Grim Reaper through a harvest of very, very dead gorn, especially with the Brooklyns in support.
- 2021 January 13, Nigel Harris, “Comment: Make freight an equal priority”, in Rail, page 3:
  But that is the likely outcome if the railway waits for Treasury's grim reaper to come a-calling.

Synonyms

(personification of death): reaper, Azrael, death/Death, the pale rider/rider, the angel of death, the Shinigami, psychopomp

Derived terms

Grim Reaper paradox

Related terms

like grim death

Translations

personification of Death

Afrikaans: skoppensboer
Arabic: حِفَاف الْأَرْوَاح‎ m (ḥifāf al-ʾarwāḥ)
Basque: Herio
Bulgarian: а́нгел на смъ́ртта m (ángel na smǎ́rtta)
Chinese:
Mandarin: 死神 (zh) (sǐshén) (lit.: God of death)
Czech: smrtka (cs) f, smrťák m
Danish: manden med leen
Dutch: Magere Hein, Pietje de Dood, engel des doods m, zeisenman (nl) m
Esperanto: Falĉilulo, Mortulo
Estonian: vikatimees
Finnish: viikatemies (fi)
French: Faucheuse (fr) f, Mort (fr) f, Grande Faucheuse (fr) f, ange de la mort (fr) m
German: Sensenmann (de) m, Schnitter (de) m, Todesengel (de) m
Greek: χάρος (el) m (cháros), άγγελος θανάτου m (ángelos thanátou), ανθρωποθεριστής (el) m (anthropotheristís)
Hebrew: מַלְאַךְ הַמָּוֶת‎ (he) m (mal'ách hamávet)
Hungarian: kaszás, halál angyala, a halál megszemélyesített formája
Icelandic: maðurinn með ljáinn m, engill dauðans m
Irish: Bás m
Italian: Tristo Mietitore m, Cupo Mietitore m, Sinistro Mietitore m, angelo della morte m
Japanese: 死神 (ja) (shinigami) (lit.: death kami, death spirit)
Kazakh: өлім періштесі (ölım perıştesı)
Korean: 사신(死神) (ko) (sasin), 저승사자 (jeoseungsaja)
Norwegian:
Bokmål: mannen med ljåen (no) m
Nynorsk: mannen med ljåen m
Polish: kostucha (pl) f, śmiertka (pl) f
Portuguese: Morte f, Ceifador m, anjo da morte m
Romanian: înger al morții m
Russian: смерть (с косо́й) (ru) f (smertʹ (s kosój)), (colloquial) костля́вая (ru) f (kostljávaja), (religion) а́нгел сме́рти (ru) m (ángel smérti), (religion) Азраи́л (ru) m (Azraíl), старуха с косой f (staruxa s kosoj) (poetic)
Serbo-Croatian:
Cyrillic: Смрт f
Roman: Smrt f
Silesian: śmjertka f
Slovak: smrťka f, smrť (sk) f, (colloquial) zubatá f
Spanish: parca (es) f, (la) muerte (es) f, Parca f, Muerte f, ángel del la muerte m
Swedish: lieman (sv) c, dödsängel c
Tagalog: Kamatayan
Thai: ยมทูต (th) (yom-má-tûut)
Turkish: ölüm meleği
Vietnamese: tử thần (vi) (死神), thần chết
Walloon: Fåtcheuse (wa) f, Noere Mayane (wa) f, Laid Wåtî (wa) m
Welsh: Angau m, Medelwr mawr m