■ noun
1》 the whole system and structure of a language or of languages in general, usually taken as consisting of syntax and morphology.
↘a set of prescriptive notions about correct use of a language.
2》 a book on ~.
3》 the basic elements of an area of knowledge or skill: the ~ of wine.
Word History
Although the two concepts are rarely associated with each other, ~ and glamour are linked. Recorded in Middle English, the word ~ came via French gramaire and Latin grammatica from Greek grammatikē (tekhnē) '(art) of letters'. In the Middle Ages Latin grammatica was often used to mean 'learning', and because many people associated scholarship with magic, ~ seems to have taken on the meaning 'enchantment, magic'. It was in Scottish English in the 18th century that the spelling change from ~ to glamour occurred, and the form glamour became fixed in the meaning 'magic' and later 'an attractive and exciting quality'. Similarly, grimoire 'a book of spells' derives from an alternative spelling of French grammaire '~'.