graduate

Pronunciation

• IPA: noun: /ˈɡrædʒ.u.ət/, verb: /ˈɡrædʒ.u.eɪt/, /ˈɡræd.ju.eɪt/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English graduat, borrowed from Medieval Latin graduātus,^[2][3] the past participle of graduārī “to take a degree”,^[4][3] from Latin gradus “step, degree”,^[4][3] the source of grade.^[3][2] Gradus is from Proto-Indo-European *ghredh- (“to walk, go”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Holding a university degree, in the phrase graduate man: before 1415 in Barnhart, the early 15th century in Etymonline.^[3][4] The noun alone, one who holds a degree, is from the mid-15th century, 1479 in the OED.^[4][5]

Semantic evolution

The verb first meant to confer a degree on someone (1421 in Barnhart, 1588 in the OED).^[3][5] The intransitive sense, to take a degree, is from 1807, in Southey's letters, and in the United States also to finish high school.^[3][4][5] To divide into degrees or mark with a scale is from 1594, and to arrange in grades from 1610.^[5] Figuratively, a graduate is one advanced in an art or career (1582),^[5] and a graduated measuring glass from 1883.^[5] In Norfolk and Suffolk dialect a graduate was a doctor.^[6]

Timeline

• c. 1415 – holding a university degree.^[3]
• 1421 – verb, to confer a degree.^[3]
• 1479 – noun, a degree-holder.^[5]
• 1594 – to mark with degrees.^[5]
• 1807 – to take a degree.^[3][4]
• 1871 – graduate school and graduate student.^[5]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A person who has completed a university degree.
2. (US) A person who has finished high school or another course of study.

Verb

1. To complete a course of study and receive a degree or diploma.
2. To move on to something more advanced.
3. To mark with a scale of measurements.

Adjective

1. Relating to study after a first degree: graduate school.

Word family

• graduator
• nongraduate
• graduate nurse
• graduate school

Related words

• grade
• graduation
• gradual
• degree
• gradient

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 Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)