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Etymology and origin of the Spanish word grado

grado1 degree, step

Confidence
Established
Formation
Inherited
First attested
c. 1140 Cantar de mio Cid
Inherited from
Latin gradus via Old Spanish
Ultimate origin
Proto-Indo-European *gʰredʰ-
Etymology tree of grado1
inherited borrowed derived
Latin gradus
Italian grado
French grade
English grade
Spanish grado
German Grad
From the same root · grado1
Latin gradalis ← gradus
Latin gradātim ← gradus
Latin gradātiō ← gradus
Latin graduātiō ← gradus
English downgrade ← grade
English grader ← grade
English upgrade ← grade

Pronunciation

  • /ˈɡɾado/, [ˈɡɾa.ð̞o][1]

Forms

grado m (plural grados)[1]

Etymology

The word for “degree, step” is inherited from Old Spanish grado (“step; rank”), inherited from Latin gradus (“step, pace; stair; degree”).[2][3][4][1] Corominas notes that the word has been strongly influenced by Latin but rests on an old popular tradition, as in the other Romance languages: Portuguese grau, Catalan grau, Occitan gra and Italian grado.[2][5] Wiktionary explains that the /d/ was kept because its loss would have left an awkward hiatus ⟨-ao⟩, as in vado.[1] The doublet grao “beach, harbour” was borrowed from the Catalan word, whose sense “harbour at a river mouth” grew from the step formed by the sandbar.[2][1]

The Latin noun is derived from gradior (“to step, walk”).[2][6] Wiktionary traces it to Proto-Indo-European *gʰredʰ- (“to walk, go”); de Vaan cites Celtic cognates such as Old Irish do·greinn (“to chase”).[1][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

In the Cantar de mio Cid (c. 1140) the word still means “steps”: echós doña Ximena en los grados delant el altar “Doña Jimena threw herself down on the steps before the altar” (v. 327).[2][7] The Vida de Santa María Egipcíaca (c. 1215, in a 14th-century copy) uses it in the same way, for the steps at the doors of the temple.[8][2]

Semantic evolution

Berceo already uses only the figurative sense “rank, dignity”, and the figurative senses have prevailed ever since, while grada took over the sense “step”.[2][3] Alfonso X's prose has the degree of kinship, the degree of a quality (a stone fria … en la fin del quarto grado “cold at the end of the fourth degree”), the 360 degrees of the heavens and the minor orders of the clergy.[9] Covarrubias (1611) adds the university degrees of bachelor, licentiate and doctor, and Autoridades the four degrees of intensity of the qualities in natural philosophy.[10][11]

The Academy's 1817 dictionary lists rank in a career, kinship, the academic degree, the grammatical degrees (positive, comparative, superlative), the instance of a lawsuit and the degree of a circle.[12] The degree of temperature and of alcohol content came later.[4] In Puerto Rico grado was by 1917 each year of the school course, and in US Spanish grado for “school year” and “mark” follows English grade.[13][14] In Venezuela, Ecuador and Colombia it is also the ceremony at which a degree is conferred.[15]

Timeline

  • c. 1140 – the Cantar de mio Cid uses grados for the steps of an altar.[2][3]
  • c. 1215 – the Vida de Santa María Egipcíaca (in a 14th-century copy).[8]
  • 1220–1250 – grada “step” is first recorded, in Berceo.[3][2]
  • 1250–1279 – Alfonso X's Lapidario has degrees of a quality and the degrees of the heavens.[9]
  • 1493 – the first record from the Americas, of islands fertilísimas en demasiado grado.[16]
  • c. 1495 – Nebrija's Spanish–Latin vocabulary has grado para subir en onra, Latin gradus.[17]
  • 1611 – Covarrubias records the university degrees.[10]
  • 1817 – the Academy's dictionary lists the degrees of kinship, grammar, law and the circle.[12]
  • 1884 – the Academy's dictionary gives the etymology from Latin gradus.[18]

Meanings

Noun

  1. Each of the levels or stages, from lower to higher, that something can have: un incendio forestal de segundo grado.[4][1]
  2. The degree or extent of something that varies in intensity: Todos colaboraron, aunque en distinto grado..[4]
  3. A degree of kinship: each generation between two relatives.[4][9]
  4. An academic degree: the title obtained on completing a level of study, as grado de licenciado.[4][1]
  5. In some schools, a class or grade of pupils grouped by age and level.[4][1]
  6. A rank in the hierarchy of an institution, especially the army.[4][19]
  7. A unit of a scale of measurement, especially a degree of temperature: Hoy estamos a treinta grados.[4][1]
  8. The percentage of alcohol in a drink.[4][1]
  9. A peldaño, a step.[4]
  10. (law) Each instance of a lawsuit: en grado de apelación.[4]
  11. (geometry) Each of the 360 equal parts of a circle, used to measure angles.[4][1]
  12. (grammar) The degree of an adjective or adverb, which modifies the intensity of its quality.[4]
  13. (Venezuela, Ecuador, Colombia) A graduation ceremony.[15][1]

Word family

  • grada
  • gradería
  • graduar
  • gradual

grado2 will, liking

Confidence
Established
Formation
Inherited
First attested
1129 a charter in Oelschläger's list
Inherited from
Latin gratum via Old Spanish
Ultimate origin
Proto-Indo-European *gʷerH-

Pronunciation

  • /ˈɡɾado/, [ˈɡɾa.ð̞o][1]

Forms

grado m (plural grados)[1]

Etymology

The word for “will, liking” is inherited from Old Spanish grado (“will; thanks”), inherited from Late Latin grātum (“gratitude, thanks”), the neuter of Latin grātus (“pleasing; thankful”) used as a noun.[20][21][1][22] The DLE gives the Latin adjective directly as the etymon.[4] The same noun is Portuguese grado, French gré, Catalan grat and Occitan grat; the Italian grado in this sense was taken from Occitan or Catalan.[5][1][23] The adjective itself was borrowed later as grato.[21][20]

The Latin adjective goes back to Proto-Italic *gʷrātos and Proto-Indo-European *gʷr̥H-tó- (“praised”), from *gʷerH- (“to welcome, praise”), the root of Sanskrit गृणाति (gṛṇā́ti, “to praise”).[1][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Corominas's first record is a charter of 1129.[20][21] In the Cantar de mio Cid (c. 1140, in a 14th-century copy) the hero gives thanks with ¡Grado a ti, Señor, Padre que estás en alto! “Thanks be to you, Lord, Father on high!”, and de grado means “willingly”: todos vengan de grado “let them all come willingly”.[8][7][24]

Semantic evolution

The word was frequent from the beginning of the language, in Apolonio and Berceo, but its use was soon limited to set phrases: grado al Criador “thanks be to the Creator”, de grado or de buen grado “willingly”, mal de su grado “against his will”.[20] The Cid also has en grado vos lo tengo “I am grateful to you for it” and grado e gracias; the Rimado de Palacio has tener en grado “to be grateful for”.[7][20] In 1208 the Cortes of León oppose selling at a price to doing something de grado, freely.[8]

Covarrubias (1611) explains that grado sometimes means will, as in hízolo mal de su grado, derives agrado and agradar from it, and records ni grado ni gracias “no cause for thanks”.[10] In the Americas a document of 1521 from Cuba hopes for things por fuerça más que de grado “by force rather than willingly”.[16] Today the word lives only in phrases such as de buen grado and de mal grado.[25][19]

Timeline

  • 1129 – a charter in Oelschläger's list.[20][21]
  • c. 1140 – the Cantar de mio Cid has grado a ti and de grado.[8][7]
  • 1208 – the Cortes of León use de grado, in a text without a later copy.[8]
  • 1218–c. 1250 – the Fuero de Zorita de los Canes opposes an accident to an act done de grado, on purpose.[8]
  • c. 1495 – Nebrija's Spanish–Latin vocabulary has grado diziendo de grado, Latin gratis.[17]
  • 1521 – the first record from the Americas, in Cuba.[16]
  • 1611 – Covarrubias derives agrado and agradar from the word.[10]
  • 1846 – Salvá marks the sense “will” as old.[26]

Meanings

Noun

  1. will, liking; used only in set phrases.[25][1]
  2. de grado, de buen grado: willingly, gladly: Aceptó de buen grado la propuesta.[25][19]
  3. de mal grado: unwillingly;[27] mal de mi grado: against my will.[25]

Word family

  • grao
  • degradar
  • gradiente
  • retrógrado
  • grato
  • gracia
  • gratitud
  • Latin gradus
  • Latin grātus
  • French gré

Usage notes

Place names ending in -grado, such as Belgrado, have a separate source: an Old Church Slavonic word for “town”.[27]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 3, 188
  3. ^ a b c d Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. grado I
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Real Academia Española; Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2014–), Diccionario de la lengua española, 23rd ed., online version 23.8, https://dle.rae.es, p. s.v. grado
  5. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
  6. ^ a b c de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  7. ^ a b c d Menéndez Pidal, Ramón (1908–1911), Cantar de Mio Cid: texto, gramática y vocabulario, 3 vols., Madrid: Bailly-Baillière, p. s.v. grado
  8. ^ a b c d e f g Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. grado
  9. ^ a b c Kasten, Lloyd A.; Nitti, John J.; Gago Jover, Francisco (2002–), Diccionario de la prosa castellana del Rey Alfonso X, New York: Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies (electronic edition 2024), p. s.v. grado
  10. ^ a b c d Covarrubias Orozco, Sebastián de (1611), Tesoro de la lengua castellana o española, Madrid: Luis Sánchez (Biblioteca Wordkers transcription, CC BY 4.0), p. 929
  11. ^ Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. s.v. grado
  12. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1817), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 5th ed., Madrid: Imprenta Real, p. 448
  13. ^ Malaret, Augusto (1999), Vocabulario de Puerto Rico, critical ed. by Humberto López Morales, Madrid: Arco/Libros (1st ed. 1937), p. 204
  14. ^ Moreno-Fernández, Francisco (2018), Diccionario de anglicismos del español estadounidense (Informes del Observatorio 037-01/2018SP), Cambridge, Mass.: Instituto Cervantes at Harvard University, p. 62
  15. ^ a b Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2010), Diccionario de americanismos, Lima: Santillana; online at https://www.asale.org/damer, p. s.v. grado
  16. ^ a b c Boyd-Bowman, Peter (2003), Léxico hispanoamericano 1493–1993, ed. Ray Harris-Northall and John J. Nitti, New York: Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies, p. s.v. grado
  17. ^ a b Lleal, Coloma (dir.), DICCA-XV: Diccionario del castellano del siglo XV en la Corona de Aragón, Barcelona: Universitat de Barcelona, Grup d'Estudis d'Història de la Llengua (GHCL), https://ghcl.ub.edu/diccaxv, p. s.v. grado
  18. ^ Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 538
  19. ^ a b c Battaner Arias, Paz (dir.) (2017), Diccionario general de la lengua española VOX, Barcelona: Larousse Editorial, p. s.v. grado
  20. ^ a b c d e f Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 3, 189
  21. ^ a b c d Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. grado II
  22. ^ Bénaben, Michel (2000), Dictionnaire étymologique de l'espagnol, Paris: Ellipses, p. s.v. grado
  23. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  24. ^ Cejador y Frauca, Julio (1929), Vocabulario medieval castellano, Madrid: Librería y Casa Editorial Hernando, p. 239
  25. ^ a b c d Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. grado
  26. ^ Salvá, Vicente (1846), Nuevo diccionario de la lengua castellana, París: Librería de Don Vicente Salvá, p. 559
  27. ^ a b Gómez de Silva, Guido (1988), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua española, México: Fondo de Cultura Económica / El Colegio de México, p. 333

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Grado.” Etymologically, 7 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/es/grado. Accessed 7 Nov. 2026.

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