Etymology

grate

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Today it means: A horizontal metal grill through which liquid, ash, or small objects can fall, while larger objects cannot. Full definition →

Middle English grate ← Medieval Latin crāta ← Latin cratis
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grate · noun, verb1

  1. Latin · derived fromcratis
  2. Medieval Latin · derived fromcrāta
  3. Middle English · inherited fromgrate
  4. English todaygrate

From Middle English grate, from a Medieval Latin crāta, from a Latin word for a hurdle; or Italian grata, from Latin cratis.

grate · verb2

  1. Proto-Indo-European*gred-
  2. Proto-Indo-European*grodnéh₂ti?
  3. Proto-Germanic*krattōną
  4. Frankish*krattōn
  5. Old Frenchgrater
  6. Middle Englishgraten
  7. English todaygrate

From Middle English graten, from Old French grater (“to scrape”) ( > French gratter), from Frankish *krattōn, from Proto-Germanic *krattōną. Cognate with Old High German krazzon ( > German kratzen (“to scrawl”) > Danish kradse), Icelandic krassa (“to scrawl”) and Danish kratte. Doublet of cratch.

grate · adjective3

  1. Latin · derived fromgrātus“agreeable”
  2. English todaygrate

From Latin grātus (“agreeable”).

Words from the same roots

Proto-Germanic*krattōną all →

scrat

Latingrātus all →

gratefulgratitudecongree

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.