Etymologically
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grammatical

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Pronunciation

  • /ɡɹəˈmæt.ɪ.kəl/[1]

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

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