Etymology

groat

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Today it means: Hulled grain, chiefly hulled oats. Full definition →

Middle English grot ← Old English grot ← Proto-West Germanic *grot
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groat · noun1

  1. Proto-Germanic · inherited from*grutą
  2. Proto-West Germanic · inherited from*grot
  3. Old English · inherited fromgrot
  4. Middle English · inherited fromgrot
  5. English todaygroat

From Middle English grot, from Old English grot, from Proto-West Germanic *grot, from Proto-Germanic *grutą, related to *greutą. More at grit, grout.

groat · noun2

  1. Middle Dutch · derived fromgroot
  2. English todaygroat

Possibly from Middle Dutch groot, the Old French gros Tournois (“a coin of Tours”), gros being from Medieval Latin denarius grossus (“large coin”). Related to German Groschen.

Groat · proper noun3

  1. Old Norse · derived fromgrautr“porridge”
  2. English todayGroat

* As a Scottish surname, nickname from Old Norse grautr (“porridge”). Compare Grout. * Also as a Scottish surname, variant of Grote. * As a German, Dutch and Danish surname, variant of Groth, Groot, Grott, and Grad.

Words from the same roots

Old Englishgrot all →

groaty

Proto-Germanic*grutą all →

grout

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.