Etymologically
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degree

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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

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