grouiller

to mill about, swarm with people; to swarm or crawl; to hurry; to get a move on

“La place grouille de touristes.” — The square is crawling with tourists.

From Middle French grouiller (“to shake, stir, agitate, scold, hasten, swarm, teem, crawl”), from Old French grouiller (“to rumble”), alteration of Old French grouller (“to growl”), from Middle Dutch grollen (“to make a noise, rumble, growl, grunt, grumble, scold”), from Old Dutch *grullen, from Proto-Germanic *gruljaną, *graljaną (“to shout, make angry, provoke”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʰer- (“to rattle, make a noise, grumble”). Cognate with Middle High German grüllen (“to scorn, jeer”), Ol