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

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 m or f or n

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

Inflection

Strong masculine noun

	singular	plural
nominative	gracht	grachte
accusative	gracht	grachte
genitive	grachts	grachte
dative	grachte	grachten

Strong feminine noun

	singular	plural
nominative	gracht	grachte
accusative	gracht	grachte
genitive	gracht, grachte	grachte
dative	gracht, grachte	grachten

Strong neuter noun

	singular	plural
nominative	gracht	gracht, grachte
accusative	gracht	gracht, grachte
genitive	grachts	grachte
dative	grachte	grachten

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