grade

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   A mark or score given for work at school or in a test.

   He got a good grade on the test.

2. 2
   verb

   To give a mark or score to a piece of work.

   The teacher stayed late to grade the exams.

3. 3
   noun

   A level of quality or value within a range.

   This shop only sells the highest grade of coffee.

4. 4
   noun

   The steepness of a slope or road.

   The truck slowed down on the steep grade.

Appears in

Simplified etymology

Grade comes from Latin gradus, “step,” and entered English in the early 16th century. It was originally used as a unit of measurement, a use later largely replaced by degree, which comes from the same source.

Borrowed from Middle French grade (“a grade, degree”), from Latin gradus (“a step, pace, degree”), from Proto-Italic *graðus, from Proto-Indo-European *gʰradʰ-, *gʰredʰ- (“to walk, go”). Doublet of gradus. Cognate with Gothic 𐌲𐍂𐌹𐌸𐍃 (griþs, “step, grade”), Bavarian Gritt (“step, stride”), Lithuanian gri̇̀diju (“to go, wander”).

Topics

External links

• Google Images
• Cambridge Dictionary
• Wiktionary