groat
UK /ɡɹəʊt/ · US /ɡɹoʊt/ noun, proper noun
Forms groats
- noun (chiefly in the plural) Hulled grain, chiefly hulled oats.
- noun (archaic or historical) Any of various old coins of England and Scotland.
- noun Any unit of currency worth four pence.
- noun A historical English coin representing such a unit: a silver coin worth four English pennies, still minted as one of the set of Maundy coins.
- noun A proverbial small sum; a whit or jot.
- proper noun A surname.
Synonyms
Etymology
From Middle English grot, from Old English grot, from Proto-West Germanic *grot, from Proto-Germanic *grutą, related to *greutą. More at grit, grout.
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.
* 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.
Webster’s 1913
Etymology [LG. grote, orig., great, that is, a great piece of coin, larger than other coins in former use. See Great.]
Sources: Wiktionary · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “groat”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details