grandeur

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Middle French grandeur, from Old French grandur, from grant (French grand), from Latin grandis (“grown up, great”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɡɹæn.d͡ʒɚ/, /ˈɡɹæn.d͡ʒʊɚ/, /ˈɡɹæn.d(j)ʊɚ/, /ˈɡɹæn.d(j)ɚ/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Noun

grandeur (countable and uncountable, plural grandeurs)

1. The state of being grand or splendid; magnificence.
   • 1829, Edgar Allan Poe, “Tamerlane”, in Al Aaraaf, Tamerlane and Minor Poems:

     I wrapp’d myself in grandeur then,
     And donn’d a visionary crown ——

   • 2020 August 26, Tim Dunn, “Great railway bores of our time!”, in Rail, page 44:

     So much of what followed from the drawing boards of others will have been designed with the demands, effort and grandeur of Primrose Hill [tunnel] in the back of their minds.

2. Nobility (state of being noble).
3. (archaic, rare) Greatness; largeness; tallness; loftiness.

Translations

state of being grand or splendid; magnificence

• Bulgarian: вели́чие (bg) n (velíčie), великоле́пие (bg) n (velikolépie)
• Catalan: grandesa f
• Finnish: upeus (fi)
• French: splendeur (fr) f
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Irish: ardchéim f
• Latin: granditās f
• Portuguese: grandeza (pt) f
• Russian: вели́чие (ru) n (velíčije), великоле́пие (ru) n (velikolépije)
• Spanish: grandeza (es) f
• Swedish: storslagenhet (sv) c

nobility

• Bulgarian: зна́тност f (znátnost), благоро́дство (bg) n (blagoródstvo)
• Finnish: aateluus (fi)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Irish: ^{(please verify)} ardnós m
• Malayalam: പ്രതാപം (ml) (pratāpaṁ), മഹത്വം (mahatvaṁ)
• Russian: зна́тность (ru) f (znátnostʹ), благоро́дство (ru) n (blagoródstvo)

greatness; largeness; tallness; loftiness

• Azerbaijani: böyüklük
• Bulgarian: вели́чественост (bg) f (velíčestvenost)
• Finnish: suuruus (fi)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Portuguese: grandeza (pt) f, grandor (pt) m (also archaic)
• Russian: вели́чие (ru) n (velíčije), вели́чественность (ru) f (velíčestvennostʹ)

References

• John A. Simpson and Edmund S. C. Weiner, editors (1989), “grandeur”, in The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd edition, Oxford: Clarendon Press, →ISBN.

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French

Etymology

Old French grandur, from grand +‎ -eur.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɡʁɑ̃.dœʁ/

• Audio (France, Paris):

  (file)

• Homophone: grandeurs

Noun

grandeur f (plural grandeurs)

1. size
2. (physics, mathematics) magnitude, quantity
3. (astronomy) magnitude
4. grandeur

Derived terms

• folie des grandeurs
• grandeur d’âme
• grandeur nature
• ordre de grandeur
• Votre Grandeur

See also

• taille
• largeur
• hauteur

Further reading

• “grandeur”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

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Walloon

Etymology

From Old French grandur.

Noun

grandeur f (plural grandeurs)

1. size