degree
Definition, pronunciation, etymology, and usage for the English word. Free spelling reference powered by Wiktionary.
Letters
6 characters
Language
English
word origin
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Detailed reference entry for the English word "degree", 6-letters, with pronunciation in International Phonetic Alphabet notation, etymology traced through Germanic and Romance roots where applicable, common misspelling variants catalogued from Hunspell error dictionaries, and usage frequency ranked against the top 100,000 English words in the Wordfreq corpus. PlainSpell covers English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German spelling with confusable-pair detection that highlights visually and phonetically similar words. This entry for "degree" includes synonyms, antonyms, homophones, and cross-language translation pointers sourced from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org extract. Whether you are verifying the correct spelling of "degree" for academic writing, checking homophone confusion, or exploring etymological origins, this page provides a citation-backed, free reference that requires no sign-up.
degree is aEnglishnoun. It means: A stage of proficiency or qualification in a course of study, now especially an award bestowed by a university/college, as a certification of academic achievement. (In the United States, can includ... Pronounced /dɪˈɡɹiː/. It ranks #1,217 in English word frequency. Often confused with Derek and degrees.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | degree |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /dɪˈɡɹiː/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #1,217 |
| Misspellings tracked | 8 |
| Confusable pairs | 5 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Frequency rank visualization
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for degree is 6 letters long, classified as anoun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /dɪˈɡɹiː/. Corpus data places it at rank #1,217 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text.Wiktionary records 16 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our Hunspell-derived misspelling index lists 8 documented wrong-spelling variants for degree, with forms such as "ddegree", "degere", and "deggree". Each variant represents a distinct typo pattern that appears often enough in corpora to be worth flagging, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution.It also participates in 5 confusable-pair relationships, "Derek", "degrees", "decree", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English degre, borrowed from Old French degré (French: degré), itself from Latin gradus, with the prefix de-. Root origin matters for spelling because borrowed morphemes (Greek, Latin, Old French, Old English) carry their source-language orthographic conventions into modern English, which is why historical etymology is often the cleanest predictor of whether a cluster like "-ough", "-eau", or "-tion" will appear. For readers arriving here from a spelling check, the authoritative guidance is: the correct English form is degree, spelled D-E-G-R-E-E, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.
Definition
- 1A stage of proficiency or qualification in a course of study, now especially an award bestowed by a university/college, as a certification of academic achievement. (In the United States, can include secondary schools.)
- 2A unit of measurement of angle equal to ¹⁄₃₆₀ of a circle's circumference.
- 3A unit of measurement of temperature on any of several scales, such as Celsius or Fahrenheit.
- 4The sum of the exponents of a term; the order of a polynomial.
- 5The dimensionality of a field extension.
- 6The number of edges that a vertex takes part in; a valency.
- 7The number of logical connectives in a formula.
- 8The curvature of a circular arc, expressed as the angle subtended by a fixed length of arc or chord.
- 9A unit of measurement of latitude and longitude which together identify a location on the Earth's surface.
- 10Any of the stages (like positive, comparative, superlative, elative) in the comparison of an adjective or an adverb.
- 11A step on a set of stairs; the rung of a ladder.
- 12An individual step, or stage, in any process or scale of values.
- 13A stage of rank or privilege; social standing.
- 14A ‘step’ in genealogical descent.
- 15One's relative state or experience; way, manner.
- 16The amount that an entity possesses a certain property; relative intensity, extent.
Etymology
From Middle English degre, borrowed from Old French degré (French: degré), itself from Latin gradus, with the prefix de-.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: ddegree,degere,deggree,degre,degrree,dergee,dgeree,edgree
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
Relative frequency of common misspelling types for degree
Misspelling Variants of "degree"
Frequency rank: #1,217 in English
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Nearby English words
Other entries that begin with the letter D in our English index: