Graduation

google

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late Middle English: from medieval Latin graduat- ‘graduated’, from graduare ‘take a degree’, from Latin gradus ‘degree, step’.

wiktionary

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graduate +‎  -ation [1]

etymonline

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graduation (n.)

early 15c., in alchemy, "a tempering, a refining of something to a certain degree; measurement according to the four degrees of a quality," from graduate (n.). General sense of "a dividing into degrees" is from 1590s; meaning "action of receiving or giving an academic degree" is from early 15c.; in reference to the ceremony where a degree is given, from 1818.