degree

Pronunciation

• IPA: /dɪˈɡriː/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English degre,^[2] borrowed from Old French degré (“step of a stair, degree of relationship, academic degree, rank”), earlier degret,^[3][4] said to be from Vulgar Latin *dēgradus (“a step”),^[3][4][2] from Latin dē- “down” and gradus (“a step”),^[3][5] the source of grade.^[4][6] Etymonline takes gradus to Proto-Indo-European *ghredh- (“to walk, go”).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

A step or stair, a position in a hierarchy, and a stage of progress: about 1200,^[3][4] the 13th century.^[2][5]

Semantic evolution

In Middle English it was a word of wide use, and most of its extended senses come from the idea of a hierarchy of steps;^[3] it also meant way, manner, condition or standing.^[3] A step in a line of descent is from the mid-14th century,^[3] and an academic rank conferred by diploma from the late 14th century,^[3] from the medieval mastership or doctorate, reached in stages.^[6] By degrees, “gradually”, is from the late 14th century.^[3] Other senses come from the idea of subdivisions of something: one 360th of a circle from the late 14th century,^[3][6] a measure of heat from the 1540s, and a unit on a thermometer by 1727.^[3] In law, a grade of culpability is from the 1670s, as in American first-degree murder (by 1821).^[3] A musical interval is from the 17th century.^[5]

Timeline

• c. 1200 – a step, a rank, a stage.^[3][4]
• mid-14th century – a step in a line of descent.^[3]
• late 14th century – an academic degree; a degree of a circle.^[3]
• 1540s – a measure of heat.^[3]
• 1670s – a degree of crime.^[3]
• 1727 – a degree on a thermometer.^[3]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A unit for measuring angles, one 360th of a full circle.
2. A unit on a scale of temperature.
3. Amount, extent or intensity: to some degree.
4. A step or stage in a process or series.
5. An academic title given by a university for completing a course of study.
6. Social or official rank.
7. A grade of seriousness, as of a crime or burn: first-degree murder.
8. (grammar) A form of comparison of an adjective or adverb, such as comparative or superlative.

Word family

• degreed
• degreeless
• millidegree
• predegree
• degree-day
• first-degree
• third-degree
• pass degree

Related words

• grade
• gradual
• degrade
• graduate
• progress
• digress
• aggression
• ingredient

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
5. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press