"R" Word Origins

Ra

Origin

Comes directly from the ancient Egyptian word for the sun.

raasclaat

Origin

1950s. From Jamaican Creole raasclaat, from English arse + cloth. Compare English arsewipe, asswipe.

Rab

Origin

From Serbo-Croatian Rab, ultimately derived from a substrate root *Arb-, as apparent in Ancient Greek Ἄρβα (Árba), Latin Arba and Italian Arbe.

Rabb

Arabic

Borrowed directly from Arabic رَبّ (rabb), meaning "lord" or "master."

rabbet

Origin

From Middle English rabeten, from Old French raboter, rabouter (“to thrust back”, verb), from Old French re- + boter, bouter. Doublet of rebut. The noun is from Middle English rabet, from Old French rabot, from the verb.

rabbi

Latin

From Hebrew רַבִּי (rabbi), literally "my master," through Greek and Latin into Middle English.

rabbit

Old French

Entered English from Old French/Middle Dutch roots in the late Middle Ages, originally meaning specifically a young rabbit; it replaced the older word "cony" once that word became a crude euphemism.

rabble

Middle English

From Middle English rablen, meaning to ramble or speak incoherently — the sense shifted from confused talk to a confused, unruly mass of people.

rabid

Latin

From Latin rabidus, related to rabiō ("to rave" or "to rage").

rabies

Latin

A direct borrowing from Latin rabiēs, meaning "madness" or "fury" — the same root behind the everyday word "rage."

raccoon

Origin

Borrowed from a Powhatan word describing the animal's habit of scratching or rubbing with its hands.

race

Old English

The competition sense traces to Old English and Old Norse words for a swift run or rush; the "group of people" sense arrived separately, later, from continental European languages.

racecourse

Origin

From race + course.

racehorse

Origin

A straightforward compound of "race" and "horse."

racer

Origin · 1600

Formed by adding the agent suffix "-er" to "race"; first recorded in the mid-1600s.

racetrack

Origin

A compound of "race" and "track."

raceway

Origin

From race + way.

rach

Old English

From Old English ræċċ, an ancestor word for scent hounds, which survived into Middle English as rache before falling out of everyday use.

Rachel

Latin

From Biblical Hebrew רָחֵל (rāḫēl), meaning "ewe," via Greek and Latin.

rachelle

Origin

20th-century variant of Rachel, from French Rachelle, or possibly coined independently of it.

Rachid

French

Borrowed from French Rachid, itself from Arabic رَاشِد (rāšid), meaning "rightly guided."

rachis

Origin

From New Latin rhachis/rachis, from Ancient Greek ῥάχις (rhákhis, “spine, ridge”).

rachitis

Origin

Unadapted borrowing from New Latin rachitis, used by the British physician Francis Glisson (1597–1677) to refer to rickets, from Koine Greek ῥαχῖτις (rhakhîtis) (in ῥαχῖτις νόσος (rhakhîtis nósos, “spinal inflammation”, literally “spinal disease”)), the feminine form of ῥαχίτης (rhakhítēs, “in or of the spine, spinal”), from Ancient Greek ῥάχῐς (rhákhĭs, “lower part of the back; (anatomy) backbone, spine”) (probably ultimately Pre-Greek) + -ῖτις (-îtis) (feminine form of -ῑ́της (-ī́tēs, suffix forming nouns with the sense ‘one connected to’)). By surface analysis, rach- + -itis.

Rachmaninoff

Russian

A transliteration of the Russian surname Рахма́нинов (Raxmáninov).

racial

Origin

Formed from "race" plus the adjective suffix "-ial."

racialism

Origin

From racial + -ism. Coined in 1882 based on the older use of "race" as a synonym of "nation, tribe, ethnic group", later senses (from 1890) from the use of "race" for racial categories.

racially

Origin

Formed by adding the adverb suffix "-ly" to "racial."

Racine

French

Borrowed from French racine, meaning "root."

racing

Origin

Formed from "race" plus the suffix "-ing."

racism

French

Borrowed from French racisme, built from "race" plus the suffix "-ism."

racist

French · 1932

First recorded as a noun in 1932 and as an adjective in 1938, built from 'racism' plus the agent suffix '-ist,' paralleling the earlier French raciste.

rack

Middle English

From Middle English rakke/rekke, related to Middle Dutch words for a framework, going back to a root meaning "to stretch out".

racket

Old French

The sports-equipment sense probably comes from an old French or Arabic word for the palm of the hand; the noise/scheme senses developed separately in English slang.

racketeer

Origin

From racket + -eer.

racketeering

Origin · 1920

Coined in Chicago in the late 1920s to describe organized crime's grip on labor unions and businesses, from "racket" in the sense of a criminal scheme.

rackety

Origin

From racket + -y.

Rackham

Old English

From Old English hrēac ("stack, pile of stones") + hām ("homestead").

raconteur

French

From French raconteur, from raconter 'to relate, to tell', ultimately from conter 'to tell'.

racquet

French

Borrowed from French raquette; a spelling variant of "racket".

racquetball

Origin

A compound of "racquet" and "ball".

racy

Origin

From "race" in an old sense meaning a distinctive, characteristic flavor (as of a wine), plus the adjective-forming suffix "-y".

rad

English

The slang adjective is a shortening of radical. The radiation unit is an acronym of radiation absorbed dose.

rada

German

Borrowed from Polish rada ("council"), tracing back to a Middle High German root also seen in German Rat and Dutch raad.

radar

Origin · 1940

Originally an acronym for "radio detection and ranging", coined by US Navy officers in 1940; it later became an ordinary word in its own right.

Radford

Old English

From Old English rēad ("red") + ford ("ford").

Radha

Sanskrit

From Sanskrit राधा (rādhā).

radial

Medieval Latin

From Medieval Latin radialis, based on Latin radius, "spoke" or "ray".

radiance

Origin

From "radiant" plus the noun-forming suffix "-ance".