Grit.
The word has several definitions. It can mean tiny pieces of dirt or rock, as in “The wind filled my eyes and nose with grit.” Some people use it to describe a redneck: “That grit has never left the farm.” (By the way, lest you think my use of redneck insulting or gratuitous, I grew up with them, and several times in my life, a good old boy has hauled me out of a sea of troubles.) Some employ grit to mean nasty or gross, as in “Joe is so grit!”
