gracht

See also: Gracht

English

Etymology

From Dutch gracht.

Noun

gracht (plural grachts)

1. A canal in a city, with houses on each side.
   • 1848, James Silk Buckingham, Belgium, the Rhine, Switzerland, and Holland: An Autumnal Tour:

     Besides the grachts enumerated, there is an inner semicircular one, called the Cingel, the name usually given to the outer fosse; a much wider space, called the Binnen Amstel, receiving the first inlet of water from the river of that name; several capacious basons or docks; and at least a hundred smaller grachts, or canal-streets.

Dutch

FWOTD – 4 March 2020

Alternative forms

• graft (canal, grave, obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle Dutch gracht, from Old Dutch *graft, *graht, from Proto-Germanic *graftuz. Equivalent to graven (“to dig”) +‎ -t (“verbal noun”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɣrɑxt/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: gracht
• Rhymes: -ɑxt
• Homophone: Gracht

Noun

Een gracht in Amsterdam.
A canal in Amsterdam.

gracht f or m (plural grachten, diminutive grachtje n)

1. (Netherlands) canal (in a city, with houses on each side)

   Synonym: rui

   In Amsterdam is er een straat langs een gracht, waar een beperkt stopverbod van kracht is.

   In Amsterdam, there is a road running alongside a canal where parking is restricted.

2. (Belgium) ditch, trench (in the countryside, referring to both those that contain water and those that are dry)
   • 2017 January 10, Het Laatste Nieuws, "Monsterfile op E17 na ongeval in Destelbergen, vrachtwagen in gracht op E40".

     Op de E40 tussen Beernem en Aalter kreeg een vrachtwagen rond 7 uur 's morgens een klapband. Hierdoor belandde de vrachtwagen, die geladen was met aarde, op zijn zijkant in de gracht.

     A truck got a flat tyre on the E40 between Beernem and Aalter around 7 o'clock in the morning. This caused the truck, which was loaded with earth, to end up on its side in the ditch.

   Synonyms: gleuf, greppel, geul, rui, sloot

Derived terms

• grachtengordel
• grachtenhuis
• grachtenpand
• slotgracht
• vestgracht

Descendants

• Afrikaans: grag
• → English: gracht
• → German: Gracht
• → Papiamentu: gracht (dated)
• → West Frisian: gracht

Noun

gracht n (plural grachten, diminutive grachtje n)

1. (obsolete) grave

See also

• kanaal

Middle Dutch

Etymology

From Old Dutch *graft, *graht, from Proto-Germanic *graftuz.

Noun

gracht f or n

1. (neuter) grave
2. ditch, canal, dug watercourse
3. groove

Inflection

This noun needs an inflection-table template.

Alternative forms

• graft (Hollandic)

Descendants

• Dutch: gracht, graft (canal, grave, obsolete)
  • Afrikaans: grag
  • → English: gracht
  • → German: Gracht
  • → Papiamentu: gracht (dated)
  • → West Frisian: gracht
• Limburgish: grach

Further reading

• “gracht”, in Vroegmiddelnederlands Woordenboek, 2000
• Verwijs, E., Verdam, J. (1885–1929) “gracht”, in Middelnederlandsch Woordenboek, The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, →ISBN

West Frisian

Etymology

Borrowed from Dutch gracht.

Noun

gracht c (plural grachten, diminutive grachtsje)

1. (rare) Alternative form of grêft.