grammatical

Etymology

It is borrowed from Middle French grammatical (“of or relating to grammar”) (recorded from 1405), borrowed from Late Latin grammaticālis (“of or relating to grammar”) (5th century), or both.^[2][3][4] The Late Latin adjective is formed from grammaticus (“of grammar”) (the OED says grammatica (“grammar”)) and -ālis.^[5][2][6] The Latin word is from Ancient Greek γραμματικός (grammatikós, “knowing one's letters; skilled in grammar”),^[7][6][5] from γράμμα (grámma, “letter”), genitive γράμματος (grámmatos),^[7][8][9] literally that which is written, from the stem of γράφειν (gráphein, “to write”).^[7] It is related to grammar, and the OED compares Italian grammaticale (13th century), Spanish gramatical and Portuguese gramatical.^[2][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Of or relating to grammar: 1525, in Richard Whitford's translation of Hugh of Saint Victor.^[2] Etymonline dates the adjective to the 1520s,^[3] Merriam-Webster to 1530,^[5] and Dictionary.com to 1520–30;^[9] Etymonline dates the adverb grammatically to about 1400.^[3]

Semantic evolution

The Latin and Greek words behind it had a much wider sense than English grammar: the Greek adjective meant knowing one's letters, and the art it named covered philology and literature.^[3][7] In English the adjective was at first used of grammar itself, and soon also of the literal meaning of a text, read from its words alone (before 1530), a sense the OED compares with signification grammaticale and sensus grammaticalis.^[2] The sense "following the rules of grammar; correct", said of speech or a sentence, is recorded from 1635.^[2][5] Johnson (1755) defined it as "belonging to grammar".^[10] In 1851 grammatical words, which mainly serve the syntax of a sentence, were first contrasted with words that carry meaning,^[2] and since 1808 the word has also been used of the formal rules of other subjects or arts.^[2] As a plural noun, grammaticals meant the subjects taught in a grammar school (1644–1867).^[2]

Timeline

• 1525 – of or relating to grammar.^[2] Merriam-Webster dates it to 1530.^[5]
• before 1530 – relating to the literal meaning of a text.^[2]
• 1635 – of speech or writing, following the rules of grammar.^[2]
• 1644 – plural noun, the subjects taught in a grammar school (obsolete by 1867).^[2]
• 1808 – conforming to the formal rules of a subject or art.^[2]
• 1851 – of a word, contributing to the syntax rather than the meaning of a sentence.^[2]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Of or relating to grammar: a grammatical error.^[11][5][2]
2. Following the rules of grammar; well formed and accepted as correct by native speakers: Her sentence was short but perfectly grammatical.^[11][5][2]
3. Based on the words of a text taken strictly by themselves; literal: a grammatical reading of the statute.^[5][2]
4. Of a word, serving mainly the syntax of a sentence rather than adding meaning, as a function word does.^[2]
5. Conforming to the formal principles of a subject, art or activity.^[2]

Word family

• grammaticality
• grammatically
• grammaticalness
• antigrammatical
• grammaticalize
• hypergrammatical
• nongrammatical
• grammatical gender

Related words

• grammar
• gramarye
• glamour
• -gram
• graphic

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c d e f g h Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
7. ^ a b c d Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
8. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
10. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
11. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins