Grock

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. To comprehend something so thoroughly that it becomes part of your understanding, as if by instinct or absorption
2. To grasp the full meaning or essence of something with complete and intuitive clarity
3. To perceive and understand something at a profound level, integrating it fully into one's knowledge

Etymology: Robert A. Heinlein coined this word out of nothing for his 1961 novel "Stranger in a Strange Land," where it belongs to the invented Martian language. In the book it means "to drink," and figuratively "to drink in all available aspects of reality" or "to become one with the observed." The word is a clean invention rather than a borrowing or a rebuilt root, so its story is mostly about the author's imagination. The spelling "grock" is an alternative form of the same word, and it is the form the question asks about. Heinlein's original spelling was "grok," and the alternative spelling shows up in later use, so the meaning is identical either way. There is one possible influence worth knowing about. The writer William Tenn asked Heinlein whether the word could have been inspired by "griggo," a term from Tenn's story "Venus and the Seven Sexes" (1949). Heinlein reportedly looked startled, thought about it for a long time, shrugged, and said, "It's possible, very possible." Whether "griggo" actually shaped "grok" remains an open question.