What does “troll” mean in English?

The Goat And The Hungry Troll

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A1 English listening practice · English · Picked for people who know a little

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troll
English two-meaning word
a mean creature in fairy tales; online, a person who tries to make others angry

In fairy tales, a troll is a big, ugly creature that lives under a bridge or in the mountains and wants to eat people or goats. Today the same word has a second meaning: on the internet, a troll is a person who writes rude comments just to make others angry. One spelling, two very different pictures.

The story here is a version of the old Norse tale of the Three Billy Goats Gruff. The troll says “I’m a big, hungry troll” and then the joke arrives: trolls eat grass. The online meaning also gives a verb: to troll someone means to annoy them on purpose, and “Don’t feed the trolls” means “don’t reply to them.”

How common are the words?

How common are the words in this A1 English listening practice video?

80%
of words are in the top 2,000 most common English words
Most of the words in this video are common English words.

How common in written English

73.8%
Top 1,000
80%
Top 2,000
91.3%
Top 5,000

How common in spoken English

87.8%
Top 1,000
87.8%
Top 2,000
100%
Top 5,000
👄 Words for talking
This video uses words people often say in English.

Harder words in this video

These words are harder than A1. Here is what they mean.

troll
6×
Not in top 5,000
a giant supernatural being, especially a grotesque humanoid creature living i…

Source: wordfreq 3.1.1 (general) · SUBTLEX-US 2012 (spoken). These numbers are close, not perfect.

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