Grawlix
noun ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 A series of images or symbols used in speech bubbles in comic strips to indicate one or more swear words.; 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."
- 2 A series of images or symbols used in speech bubbles in comic strips to indicate one or more swear words.; 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 writer, [Paul] Hornschemeier prefers what he calls "the other species" of grawlix, which is when the entire expletive is replaced by symbols. "When you see just the pure symbols, you imagine, 'OK, these are some dirty words,'" he says. "But the reader definitely becomes the author of that filth.""
- 3 A series of images or symbols used in speech bubbles in comic strips to indicate one or more swear words.; A series of violence-related images (such as bombs, daggers, and skulls) used for this purpose.
Synonyms
All synonymsExample
More examples"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."
Etymology
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.
Related phrases
More for "grawlix"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.