grace

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ɡreɪs/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English grace,^[2] borrowed from Old French grace (“pardon, divine grace, mercy; favour, thanks; elegance”) (12th century, modern grâce),^[3][4][5] from Latin grātia (“favour, esteem; pleasing quality, goodwill, gratitude”),^[3][4][2] from grātus “pleasing, agreeable”,^[3][4][6] from Proto-Indo-European *gwere- (“to favour, praise”).^[3][4] Latin grātus is cognate with Sanskrit gūrta “welcome”, possibly from an ancient Indo-European religious term.^[4] In Church Latin gratia translated Greek kharisma.^[3] It is related to grateful, gratitude and gratis.^[5][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

God's unmerited favour or help: the late 12th century in Etymonline,^[3] probably before 1200 in Barnhart, in the Ancrene Riwle,^[4] the 12th century in Hoad.^[5]

Semantic evolution

A prayer of blessing or thanksgiving before or after a meal is from the early 13th century, until the 16th century usually graces, with a sense of “gratitude”.^[3][5] Goodness or virtue is from about 1330,^[4][3] and beauty of form, movement or manner, pleasing quality, from 1340, in the Ayenbite of Inwyt,^[4][7] the mid-14th century in Etymonline.^[3] As a title of honour, as in Your Grace, it is from about 1500.^[3] One of the three Graces, the sister goddesses who gave beauty and charm, is in English by 1579, in Spenser.^[3][7] In music, an ornamental note is from the 1650s.^[3][7] The verb meant “to thank” about 1200,^[3][4][7] “to show favour” from the mid-15th century, and “to add grace to”, as in grace us with your presence, from the 1580s.^[3][4] Gracious is from about 1303,^[4] and graceful from before 1449.^[4]

Timeline

• late 12th century – God's favour.^[3]
• c. 1200 – verb, to thank.^[3][4]
• early 13th century – a prayer at a meal.^[3]
• c. 1330 – virtue.^[4]
• 1340 – charm, beauty of movement.^[4][7]
• c. 1500 – a title of honour.^[3]
• 1579 – the Graces.^[3][7]
• 1580s – verb, to add grace to.^[3]
• 1650s – in music.^[3]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. Effortless beauty or charm of movement, form or proportion.
2. A pleasing or refined quality; good manners and a sense of what is fitting: she had the grace to apologize.
3. (theology) The free and unmerited favour and love of God.
4. Mercy or clemency; also a period of delay allowed as a favour: a week's grace.
5. A short prayer of thanks before or after a meal.
6. Grace: a title used for a duke, duchess or archbishop: Your Grace.

Verb

1. To honour or favour: grace us with your presence.
2. To add beauty or elegance to; to adorn.

Word family

• gracelike
• bowgrace
• graceful
• graceless
• scapegrace
• coup de grace
• grace note
• grace period

Related words

• gracious
• grateful
• gratitude
• gratis
• gratuity

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 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 t u Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
5. ^ a b c d Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c d e f Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press