Grok
/grok/, /grohk/ (From the novel "Stranger in a Strange Land", by Robert A. Heinlein, where it is a Martian word meaning literally "to drink" and metaphorically "to be one with")
1. To understand, usually in a global sense.
Connotes intimate and exhaustive knowledge.
Contrast zen, which is similar supernal understanding experienced as a single brief flash.
See also glark.
2. Used of programs, may connote merely sufficient understanding.
"Almost all C compilers grok the "void" type these days."
[Jargon File]
| < Previous Terms | Terms Containing grok | Next Terms > |
| GRIP gripenet gritch grix groff | glark grok high moby under the hood wizard | gronk gronked group Group 3 Group 4 |
