Grote

Grote is a Dutch word meaning large or great. It is the attributive form of the adjective groot used before a noun to express size or significance, and it appears in everyday phrases such as de grote auto or een grote verandering.

In Dutch grammar, adjectives preceding nouns typically take an -e ending in definite or plural contexts, and also in indefinite singular phrases: de grote auto, de grote steden, een grote auto. The comparative and superlative forms are groter and grootste, as in een grotere auto or de grootste auto. In predicative position, the adjective can appear as groot: De auto is groot.

Etymologically, groot is an old Dutch word related to the German groß and the English great; all descend from a common Proto-Germanic root. The form grote is the inflected variant used before nouns in most standard noun phrases.

Grote is also a common Dutch surname. It likely originated as a descriptive nickname for someone tall or strong, or as a topographic or status-related marker. Today it is found throughout the Netherlands and in Dutch-speaking communities abroad, often without any direct relation to the adjective sense in modern Dutch.

Related terms include Groot, the closely connected Dutch adjective and surname form, and other cognate words in German and English. The word appears in various compound nouns and proper names, reflecting its long-standing role in describing size, importance, and identity.