"R" Word Origins

red

Ancient Greek

From Old English read, from Proto-Germanic raudaz — related to Latin ruber and Ancient Greek eruthros, both also meaning "red."

red flag

English

From the literal use of a red flag as a warning or stop signal, red being long established as the colour of danger.

red herring

English

From the strong-smelling cured fish of the third sense. The often-repeated story that such fish were dragged across trails to train or mislead hounds is disputed, and the exact route to the figurative meaning is not settled.

redact

Origin

From Old French redacter, from Latin redactus, perfect passive participle of redigō (“drive, lead, collect, reduce”), from re- (“back”) + agō (“put in motion, drive”). Piecewise doublet of react.

redbird

Origin

From red + bird.

redbreast

Origin

From Middle English redbreste, equivalent to red + breast.

redcap

Origin

From red + cap. In sense of "porter", 1890s US; compare contemporary Japanese 赤帽 (akabō), Chinese 小紅帽 /小红帽 (Xiǎo Hóng Mào). On Labor Day, 1890, John Williams, an African-American railway porter, tied a red ribbon to his black uniform cap to stand out from the crowd at Grand Central Terminal. The strategy was so successful that it was soon adopted by others in the profession, leading to the synecdochic use of redcap as a term for all railway porters.

Redder

German

Borrowed from German Redder.

Reddington

Origin

Perhaps a habitational surname from a lost place in England, from an Old English personal name *Rēada + -ing (“belonging to”) + tūn (“enclosure; settlement, town”).

reddish

Middle English

From Middle English redisch, from red plus the suffix -ish.

reddition

Origin

From Latin redditio, from reddere (“to give back, to return”). Compare French reddition. See render and rendition.

Reddy

Origin

Borrowed from Telugu రెడ్డి (reḍḍi).

redecorate

Latin

Built from re- (\"again\") plus decorate, itself from Latin decorare, \"to adorn.\"

redeem

Latin

From Old French redimer, ultimately Latin redimere — red- (\"back\") plus emere (\"to buy\") — literally \"to buy back.\"

redeemer

Middle English

From Middle English redemer, formed from redeem plus the agent suffix -er.

redefine

Origin

From re- (\"again\") plus define.

redemption

Latin

From Old French redemption, from Latin redemptio, tied to the same root as redeem, \"to buy back.\"

redemptioner

Origin

From redemption + -er.

redemptor

Origin

From Middle English redemptor, redemptoure, from Old French redemptor, from Latin redēmptor.

redemptorist

Origin

From French Rédemptoriste, from Italian Redentorista, from redentore (“redeemer, savior”) (notably the Messiah, Christ; from Latin redēmptor, from redēmptus, perfect passive participle of redimō (“redeem, buy back”), itself from re- (“back; again”) + emō (“buy; gain, take, procure”)) + -ista (“-ist”).

redesign

Origin

From re- (\"again\") plus design.

redette

Origin

From red + -ette, after brunette.

redevelopment

Origin

From re- (\"again\") plus development.

Redfern

Origin

The suburb is named after surgeon William Redfern (1774–1833).

Redford

Old English

Possibly from Old English *hrotiġ (“dirty”) + ford. This would be a reference to the peat-stained water of the stream at the ford.

redhead

Origin

A compound of red and head, describing someone by the colour of their hair.

redial

Origin

From re- (\"again\") plus dial.

redirect

Origin

From re- (\"again\") plus direct.

rediscover

Origin

From re- (\"again\") plus discover.

redline

Origin

From red plus line, from the practice of marking corrections in red pen and the red zone on a tachometer.

redlining

Origin

(systematic denial): From the red outlines used by the HOLC to mark D-rated neighborhoods with minority occupants.

Redmond

Irish

An anglicization of Irish Mac Réamoinn, "son of Raymond."

redneck

Origin

A compound of red and neck, from the sunburned necks of farm labourers who worked outdoors.

redness

Old English

From Old English readnes, built from red plus the suffix -ness.

redo

Origin

From re- (\"again\") plus do.

redolent

Origin

From Middle English redolent (first attested in 1400), from Old French redolent, from Latin redolentem, present participle of redoleō (“to emit a scent”), from red- + oleō (“to smell”).

redouble

Origin

From Middle French redoubler. By surface analysis, re- + double.

redoubt

Origin

From French redoute, from Italian ridotta, from Medieval Latin reductus (“refuge”), from Latin redūcō (“to withdraw”), with spelling influenced by doubt.

redoubtable

Origin

The adjective is derived from Late Middle English redoutable (“worthy of honour, venerable; frightening, terrible”), borrowed from Anglo-Norman redoutable and Middle French redoutable, redoubtable, from Old French redotable (modern French redoutable), from redoter (“to fear”) (whence Middle French redoubter, redouter, French redouter) + -able (suffix meaning ‘deserving of, worthy of’). Redoter is derived from re- (intensifying prefix) + doter (“to doubt; to fear”) (from Latin dubitō (“to doubt, be uncertain, waver in opinion”), probably ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *dwi- (“apart, asunder; two”) + *bʰuH- (“to appear; to be; to become; to grow”), in the sense of being in two minds). By surface analysis, redoubt (“to dread”) + -able. The noun is derived from the adjective.

redpoll

Origin

From red + poll.

redress

Old French

From Old French redresser, \"to set upright again,\" from re- plus dresser (\"to arrange, stand up\").

Reds

Latin

In reference to the ancient Roman and medieval Byzantine racing faction, a calque of Latin russātī (“Reddish-Brown-Clads”) or factio russata (“the reddish-brown-clad faction”) and Byzantine Greek Ῥούσιοι (Rhoúsioi, “Reds”).

reduce

Latin

From Latin reducere, \"to lead back,\" from re- (\"back\") plus ducere (\"to lead\").

reductase

Origin

From reduct(ion) + -ase.

reduction

Latin

From Latin reductio, drawn from the same root as reduce.

reductive

Origin

From Middle French réductif, from Late Latin reductivus, from the participle stem of Latin reducere (“to reduce”).

redundancy

Origin

From redundant plus the suffix -cy.

redundant

Latin

From Latin redundans, \"overflowing,\" from red- (\"back, again\") plus undare (\"to surge like a wave\").