English
degree
Degree comes from Middle English degre ‘a degree or generation of ancestry’, from Old French degré ‘step’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *gʰredʰ- ‘to walk, go’.
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*gʰredʰ-‘to walk’reconstructed
- Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*graðusreconstructed
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEgradus‘a step’
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400degré‘step’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500degre‘a degree or generation of ancestry’
- Englishearliest quotation 1526degree
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Lineage
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*gʰredʰ-‘to walk’reconstructed
- Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*graðusreconstructed
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEgradus‘a step’
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400degré‘step’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500degre‘a degree or generation of ancestry’
- Englishearliest quotation 1526degree
Earliest quotation: 1526, [William Tyndale, The Newe Testamẽt […] (Tyndale Bible): “And they axed hym ſayinge: Maſter / we knowe…”
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *gʰredʰ- ‘to walk, go’
congress, progress, aggression, ingredient, gradient, aggressor, retrograde, digress, regress, 28 more
through Latin gradus ‘a step, pace’
Today it means
noun A completed curriculum of study in tertiary education.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *gʰredʰ- / degree