د ر جgoing on, step by step

درجة · daraja · a degree, a rank

• Met in: V1 p5 ¶1b: «والذين أوتوا العلم درجات», "and those who were given knowledge, by degrees" (58:11), and Ibn ʿAbbās's «بسبعمائة درجة», "by seven hundred degrees". Again on V1 p5 ¶11 («وأدنى درجات الفقيه», "the lowest degree of the one who understands") and V1 p6 ¶2l («مقارنا لدرجة النبوة», "a companion to the degree of prophethood").
• Dictionary form: دَرَجَة. Lane, first: "a single stair, or step, of a series of stairs or of a ladder"; then "a degree, grade, or order, of rank or dignity". Plural دَرَجَات.
• Pattern: فَعَلَة (faʿala): one of the collective دَرَج, "steps" (Lane: it "is n. un. of" دَرَج, the noun of unity).
• Meaning here: A rank, pictured as a step up a stair. Lane adds that دَرَجَات are "stages upwards", used of Paradise, as دَرَكَات, stages downwards, are used of Hell.

Ibn Faris, Maqāyīs al-Lugha, root درج, vol 2, p 274

الدال والراء والجيم أصل واحد يدل على مضي الشيء والمضي في الشيء

One origin: a thing going on, and going on in a thing. (A step is where you go on to the next.)

Urdu bridge

درجہ is everyday Urdu: a rank, a grade, a class (پہلا درجہ). درجات is its plural, and تدریج, تدریجاً mean step by step, gradually. (to be confirmed)

Quran

20 words from this root (Quranic Arabic Corpus): دَرَجَة (degree) ×18, نَسْتَدْرِجُ ×2.

فَبَدَأَ بِأَوْعِيَتِهِمْ قَبْلَ وِعَآءِ أَخِيهِ ثُمَّ ٱسْتَخْرَجَهَا مِن وِعَآءِ أَخِيهِ كَذَٰلِكَ كِدْنَا لِيُوسُفَ مَا كَانَ لِيَأْخُذَ أَخَاهُ فِى دِينِ ٱلْمَلِكِ إِلَّآ أَن يَشَآءَ ٱللَّهُ نَرْفَعُ دَرَجَٰتٍ مَّن نَّشَآءُ وَفَوْقَ كُلِّ ذِى عِلْمٍ عَلِيمٌ

So he began [the search] with their bags before the bag of his brother; then he extracted it from the bag of his brother. Thus did We plan for Joseph. He could not have taken his brother within the religion of the king except that Allah willed. We raise in degrees whom We will, but over every possessor of knowledge is one [more] knowing.

Surah Yusuf (12), ayah 76 · Saheeh International

Why this ayah: «نَرْفَعُ دَرَجَٰتٍ مَّن نَّشَآءُ وَفَوْقَ كُلِّ ذِى عِلْمٍ عَلِيمٌ», "We raise in degrees whom We will, but over every possessor of knowledge is one [more] knowing": degrees and knowledge together, as all through V1 p5.

In the Ihya

درجة: 269 times in the Ihya.