grate

The verb comes from Middle English graten, from Old French grater ("to scrape"), from Frankish *krattōn. The noun for a metal framework, meanwhile, traces through Medieval Latin crāta or Italian grata, both from Latin cratis, a word for a hurdle.

The noun kept close to its origin, naming a framework of bars — the kind you'd find holding coal in a fireplace or shredding food in a kitchen. The verb, from a separate root meaning "to scrape," came to describe both the physical act of shredding and, later, the irritating sensation of something scraping at your nerves.

The verb is a cognate of German kratzen ("to scrawl") and Icelandic krassa, all sharing the same Frankish root for scraping or scratching.