the.com/graduate
proof you can start something and, against all odds, also finish it.
means a person who has completed a course of study, or the verb for crossing that finish line.
from from latin gradus, meaning step — because a degree was literally one rung on a ladder before it became a framed piece of paper.
same rootgradual and grade share the same step
ceremony originmedieval universities required a public disputation first
cap symbolismmortarboard mimics a builder's tool, oddly enough