Grok

Grok (IPA, rhymes with rock) is a verb roughly meaning "to understand completely" or more formally "to achieve complete intuitive understanding". Originally coined by science fiction writer Robert A. Heinlein in his 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 has since become "geek" jargon with dictionary attestations.

There is no exact or completely agreed upon definition for grok; it is a fictional word intended not to be "understood completely".

In Stranger in a Strange Land
In the Martian language of the book, it literally means "to drink" but is also 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&mdash;to merge, blend, intermarry, lose identity in group experience. It means almost everything that we mean by religion, philosophy, and science&mdash;and it means as little to us (because we are from Earth) as color means to a blind man."

In popular culture
Using the broad meaning above, the term gained real-world currency as slang among counterculture groups including hippies. A popular t-shirt and bumper sticker slogan for 1970s Trekkies was I grok Spock (often showing the Star Trek character using the Vulcan salute). Today it is chiefly used by science-fiction fans, geeks, and some pagans, particularly those belonging to the Church of All Worlds, but it is generally understood among a wider audience.