baccalaureate
/bækəˈlɔːɹɪət/
baccalaureate noun: a bachelor's degree.
Noun
baccalaureate (plural baccalaureates)
- A bachelor's degree.
- A high school completion exam and qualification awarded in many countries (e.g. Finland, France, Moldova, Romania), designed to enable students to pursue higher education.
- A farewell address in the form of a sermon delivered to a graduating class.
- The International Baccalaureate.
Forms of baccalaureate
| plural | baccalaureates |
|---|---|
| alternative form | bacc |
| alternative form | bac |
Origin of baccalaureate
First attested in 1625; borrowed from French baccalauréat, from Medieval Latin baccalaureātus, from Medieval Latin baccalaureus, an alteration made to baccalārius (“young man aspiring to knighthood, apprentice, bachelor”) for it to resemble bacca lauri (“laurel berry”) (the ancient symbol of victory). See bachelor and -ate (forms nouns denoting rank or office).
Words formed from baccalaureate
Phrases with baccalaureate
Questions about baccalaureate
- What does baccalaureate mean?
- Baccalaureate means a bachelor's degree.
- What part of speech is baccalaureate?
- Baccalaureate is a noun.
- How do you pronounce baccalaureate?
- Baccalaureate is pronounced /bækəˈlɔːɹɪət/.
- What is the plural of baccalaureate?
- The plural of baccalaureate is baccalaureates.
Words near baccalaureate in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: baccalaureate (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Sapaa-baccalaureate.wav.
Cite this entry: “baccalaureate.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/baccalaureate. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.