Grunt

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This article is about the slang term for an infantryman. For other uses of Grunt, see Grunt (disambiguation).

The term grunt is slang for an infantryman in the U.S. military and some of the other armed forces of the English speaking world, in both the Army and the Marines. The equipment laden soldiers were said to emit grunting sounds under the weight of modern combat equipment. Originally meant as a disparaging term, infantrymen now take pride in the label. It was coined during the Vietnam War: "They were called grunts. They were the infantrymen, the foot soldiers of the war" (Bernard Edelman).

GRUNT - "Term of affection used to denote that filthy, sweaty, dirt-encrusted, footsore, camouflage-painted, tired, sleepy beautiful little son of a bitch who has kept the wolf away from the door for over two hundred years." -H.G. Duncan

infantry, e.g. Frontschwein in German, poilu in French, sardo in Spanish and "milico" in Chile and other South American countries.