Meanings
nounpay grade (plural pay grades)
plural pay grades · alternative paygrade
- A level indicating a base salary (in the US applying to military and government employees).
- figurativelyA level of authority or responsibility (since pay rate, authority and responsibility generally increase similarly).
Translations
Chinese Mandarin 薪級 /薪级
- 薪級 /薪级level indicating a base salary
Danish løntrin, lønramme
- løntrinlevel indicating a base salary
- lønrammelevel of authority or responsibility
Dutch loonschaal, barema
- loonschaallevel indicating a base salary
- baremalevel indicating a base salary
Finnish palkkaluokka, asemataso
- palkkaluokkalevel indicating a base salary
- asematasolevel of authority or responsibility
French échelon, grade
- échelonlevel indicating a base salary
- gradelevel of authority or responsibility
German Gehaltsstufe, Besoldungsgruppe
- Gehaltsstufelevel indicating a base salary
- Besoldungsgruppelevel indicating a base salary
- Gehaltsgruppelevel of authority or responsibility
- Lohnstufelevel of authority or responsibility
Irish grád pá
- grád pálevel indicating a base salary
Spanish nivel salarial
- nivel salariallevel indicating a base salary
Cite this entry
APA
pay grade. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/pay%20grade
MLA
“pay grade.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/pay%20grade. Accessed November 4, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “pay grade,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/pay%20grade.
Source: pay grade on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.