Interpretation of grain size measurements in terms of the kinetics of grain growth depends on the ability to define the temperature variation of mineral growth rates. An outline is presented of the application to mineral growth rates of a corresponding states equation (CSE), which provides a relationship of growth rate to a reduced temperature function. Additionally, growth rates exhibit a ‘compensation effect’ between the pre-exponential constant and the activation energy in the standard Arrhenius equation, analogous to that shown by diffusion data. The general systematics of activation energy, equilibrium temperature and growth rate maxima are controlled by the relationships of the CSE, the standard Arrhenius equation and the compensation effect, and on this basis the temperature variation of growth rate between the equilibrium and the glass temperature may be estimated.