Etymology

grandee

gran·dee
G2R1A1N1D2E1E1

Today it means: A high-ranking nobleman in Spain or Portugal. Full definition →

First used 1590sSpanish grande ← Latin grandis
Ask AI about its historyChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

The story

  1. Latin · derived fromgrandis“large, great”
  2. Spanish · borrowed fromgrande
  3. English todaygrandee

Borrowed from Spanish grande (adjective), from Latin grandis (“large, great”). Doublet of grand and grande.

Words from the same roots

Spanishgrande all →

grandeGaspar Grande

Latingrandis all →

grandgrantgrandeurgrandiosegrandioso

First known use, by meaning

  • from 1590s A high-ranking nobleman in Spain or Portugal.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.