"R" Word Origins

registrar

Medieval Latin

From Medieval Latin registrārius, "keeper of records," built from registrum ("register") plus the agent suffix -ārius.

registration

Latin

From medieval Latin registrum "list, record", from Late Latin regesta "things recorded".

registry

Origin

A variant of the older word registery, ultimately from register plus the suffix -ery/-y.

regnant

Origin

From Middle English regnant, reignant, from Middle French regnant, régnant, and its source, Latin rēgnāns, the present participle of regnāre.

regorge

Origin

From French regorger. Compare regurgitate.

regress

Latin

From Latin regressus, past participle of regredior, "to go back" (re- + gradior, "to step, go").

regression

Latin

A learned borrowing from Latin regressio, built on regress plus -ion. The statistical sense comes from the phrase "regression to the mean."

regressive

Origin

Borrowed from Latin regressīvus, equivalent to regress + -ive.

regret

Old French

From Old French regreter, "to lament, mourn," probably ultimately from a Germanic root meaning "to weep."

regroup

French

Borrowed from French regrouper, from re- + group.

regs

Origin

A clipped form of "regular(s)" or "regulations," shortened the way casual speech trims longer words.

regular

Latin

From Latin rēgulāris, "conforming to rule," from rēgula ("rule, ruler").

regularity

Middle French

Borrowed from Middle French regularite, from Old French regularite, from Late Latin rēgulāritās, rēgulāritātem, from rēgulāris; see regular. By surface analysis, regular + -ity.

regulate

Latin

From Latin regulātus, past participle of regulō, "to direct, control," from regula ("rule").

regulation

Origin

From regulate plus the suffix -ion.

regulator

Origin

From regulate + -or.

regurgitate

Origin

From Late Latin regurgitātus, past participle of regurgitāre, combined form of re- (“back”) + gurgitāre (“to engulf, flood”), from gurges (“whirlpool, gulf, sea, abyss”).

rehab

Origin

A shortened form of rehabilitation.

rehabilitate

Medieval Latin

A learned borrowing from Medieval Latin rehabilitātus, from rehabilitāre, "to restore to a former condition."

rehabilitation

Medieval Latin

From Middle French réhabilitation, from Medieval Latin rehabilitatio.

rehash

Origin

From re- + hash, literally "to chop up again."

rehearsal

Middle English

From Middle English rehercel, related to rehearse plus the suffix -al.

rehearse

Anglo-Norman

From Anglo-Norman reherser, "to repeat word for word."

reheat

Origin

From re- + heat.

rei

Portuguese

A back-formed singular from the Portuguese plural réis; strictly, the correct singular form is "real."

Reich

German

Borrowed directly from German Reich, "empire, realm."

Reichstag

German

Borrowed from German Reichstag, literally "imperial diet/assembly."

reify

Origin

Back-formation from reification, calque from German. Formed as Latin rēs (“thing”) + -ify (English suffix).

reign

Latin

From Old French reignier, from Latin rēgnō, related to rēgnum ("kingdom, rule").

Reilly

Irish

From Irish Ó Raghallaigh, meaning "descendants of Raghallach."

reimburse

Old French

From re- ("back") plus an old verb "imburse" meaning to put money in a purse, from Old French borser, "purse." The word literally means to put money back in someone's purse.

rein

Latin

From Old French reyne/resne, going back to Latin retinere, "to hold back" — the same root as retain.

reincarnate

Latin

From re- ("again") plus incarnate, "made flesh," from Latin caro/carnis ("flesh") — the same root as carnival and carnivore.

reindeer

Old Norse

From Old Norse hreinn ("reindeer") plus dýr ("animal") — unrelated to the word "rein" used for horses.

Reiner

German

Borrowed from German Reiner; a doublet of Rayner.

Reinhardt

Proto-Germanic

From Proto-Germanic *Raginaharduz, composed of elements meaning "counsel" and "strong."

reinless

Origin

From rein + -less.

reins

Old French

From Old French reins, see also rein in French.

reis

Arabic

From Ottoman Turkish, borrowed from Arabic ra'īs, meaning "head" or "chief."

reiterate

Late Latin

From Late Latin reiterare, "to repeat," from re- ("again") plus iterare ("to repeat"), from iterum ("again").

reiteration

Origin

From reiterate + -ion, equivalent to re- + iteration.

reject

Latin

From Latin reicere, "to throw back," from re- ("back") plus iacere ("to throw").

rejection

French

From French réjection or directly from Latin reiectiōnem, accusative of Latin reiectiō. Displaced native Old English āworpennes (literally “thrown-out-ness”).

rejoice

Old French

From Old French resjoir, related to modern French réjouir ("to delight").

rejoin

Middle English

From Middle English rejoynen, partly from Middle French rejoin- (stem of rejoindre, from re- (“again”) + joindre (“to join”)) and partly from re- + joynen. By surface analysis, re- + join. Doublet of rejoinder.

rejoinder

Origin

From Middle English rejoinder, rejonder, rejoynder, from Middle French rejoindre, with infinitive used as noun frequent in Law French. Doublet of rejoin.

rejoint

Origin

From re- + joint.

rejuvenate

Latin

From re- ("again") plus Latin iuvenis ("young"), the same root behind juvenile.