Grok - Definition and Overview

Grok is a verb roughly meaning "to understand completely" or more formally intuitive understanding. The term originated in Robert Heinlein's novel Stranger in a Strange Land, where it is part of the fictional Martian language and introduced to English speakers by a man raised by Martians.

It is primarily used as slang by geeks and some Pagans, particularly those belonging to the Church of All Worlds but is attested more widely.

In the Martian tongue, it literally means "to drink" but is used in a much wider context. A character in the novel (not the primary user) defines it:

"Grok means to understand so thoroughly that the observer becomes a part of the observed—to merge, blend, intermarry, lose identity in group experience. It means almost everything that we mean by religion, philosophy, and science—and it means as little to us (because we are from Earth) as color means to a blind man."

Compare

• Groklaw

External link

• Groks and the Vanguard of Science (http://www.ocf.berkeley.edu/~clgroks/page2.html), essay from Berkeley Groks (http://www.groks.net/) science radio program
• Grok definition (http://catb.org/~esr/jargon/html/G/grok.html) in the Jargon File
• WikiQuote on Stranger in a Strange Land (http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Stranger_in_a_Strange_Land) includes many uses of grok