Etymology

graduate

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Today it means: A person who is recognized by a university as having completed the requirements of a degree studied at the institution. Full definition →

Middle English graduat(e) ← Medieval Latin graduātus ← Japanese 卒業
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graduate · noun, adjective1

  1. Japanese · semantic loan from卒業
  2. Medieval Latin · derived fromgraduātus“graduated, graduate”
  3. Middle English · inherited fromgraduat(e)“(noun) a graduate of a university; (adjective) graduate, having graduated”
  4. English todaygraduate

From Middle English graduat(e) (“(noun) a graduate of a university; (adjective) graduate, having graduated”, also used as the past participle of graduaten (“to graduate”)), borrowed from Medieval Latin graduātus (“graduated, graduate”), perfect passive participle of graduō (“to graduate”) (see -ate (adjective-forming suffix)), from gradus (“step”) + -ō (verb-forming suffix). The noun is originally derived within Latin from the adjective via substantivization, see -ate (noun-forming suffix). Sense 10 of the verb, relating to Japanese entertainment, is a semantic loan from Japanese 卒業 (sotsugyō).

graduate · verb2

  1. Medieval Latin · derived fromgraduātus
  2. Middle English · inherited fromgraduaten“to graduate”
  3. English todaygraduate

From Middle English graduaten (“to graduate”), from (adjective) graduat(e) (also used as the past participle of graduaten) + -en (verb-forming suffix), from Medieval Latin graduātus, see -ate (verb-forming suffix) and Etymology 1 for more.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.