"R" Word Origins

rhinoceros

Greek

From Greek rhinokeros, literally "nose-horn," from rhis ("nose") plus keras ("horn").

Rhinos

Origin

From "rhino," short for rhinoceros — chosen as a mascot name for its association with strength and toughness.

rho

Greek

From the name of the Greek letter ῥῶ (rhô).

Rhoda

Ancient Greek

From Ancient Greek Ῥόδη (Rhódē), meaning "woman from Rhodes" or "rose."

Rhode

Old English

From Middle English Rode, from Old English rod/rodu and/or hrēod ("reed").

Rhodes

Ancient Greek

From Ancient Greek Ῥόδος (Rhódos), of uncertain origin, possibly related to "rose" or "pomegranate."

Rhodesia

Origin

From Rhodes + -ia, after Cecil Rhodes.

rhodochrosite

Origin

From Ancient Greek ῥοδόχρως (rhodókhrōs, “having rosy colour”), from ῥόδον (rhódon, “rose”) + χρώς (khrṓs, “colour”).

rhomaian

Origin

Learned borrowing from Ancient Greek Ῥωμαῖος (Rhōmaîos) + -an, referring to the autonym used by Grecophone writers in the Eastern Roman (or Byzantine) Empire.

rhombus

Origin

Learned borrowing from Latin rhombus, from Ancient Greek ῥόμβος (rhómbos, “rhombus, spinning top”). Doublet of rhomb and rhumb.

Rhonda

Welsh

A modern coinage, traditionally explained as combining Welsh rhon ("pike, lance") and da ("good").

rhubarb

Old French

From Old French reubarbe, ultimately from Greek rheon barbarikon, literally "foreign rhubarb" — because the plant was imported from outside the Greek and Roman world.

rhyme

Latin

From Middle English rime, possibly from Latin rhythmus (from Greek rhythmos, "measured flow"), or from an old Frankish word meaning "number, sequence" — the two influences merged over time, giving the modern "rh-" spelling.

rhymer

Origin

From Middle English rymare, from Old English rīmere (“a compouter, reckoner, calculator”), equivalent to rhyme + -er. Cognate with Dutch rijmer, German Reimer, Danish rimer, Swedish rimmare, Icelandic rímari. More at rhyme.

rhyming words

Greek

Rhyme comes via Old French rime from Latin rhythmus and ultimately Greek rhythmos 'measured motion'; the modern spelling with h was influenced by rhythm.

Rhys

Welsh

From Welsh Rhys, a doublet of the names Rees, Reese, and Price.

rhythm

Latin · 1557

Coined in English in 1557 from Latin rhythmus, from Greek rhythmos ("measured flow, movement"), from rheo ("to flow").

rhythmic

Greek

From Greek rhythmikos, from rhythmos ("rhythm") plus the adjective-forming suffix -ikos.

RI

Latin

The monarchical sense is from Latin rex imperator / regina imperatrix; the distance sense comes from Korean 리 (ri), ultimately from Chinese 里 (lǐ).

ria

Latin

From Spanish ría ("inlet, estuary"), via Galician río ("river"), ultimately from Latin.

riad

Origin

From Arabic رِيَاض (riyāḍ)

rib

Old English

From Old English ribb, going back to a very old Germanic word for "rib." The slang sense meaning "a wife" comes from the Bible story of Eve being formed from Adam's rib.

ribald

Origin

From Middle English ribald, from Old French ribaud, ribauld (“rogue, scoundrel”) ( > English ribaud), from Old French riber (“to be licentious”), from Frankish *rīban (“to copulate, be in heat”, literally “to rub”), from Proto-Germanic *wrībaną (“to turn, twist, writhe”), from Proto-Indo-European *werp-, *werb- (“to turn, twist”) + Old French -aud, from Frankish *-wald. Related to Old High German rīban (“to rub”), German reiben (“to rub”), Dutch wrijven (“to rub”). Compare also Old High German hrība (“prostitute”). See also English wrap.

ribbing

Origin

From rib (“tease”, verb) + -ing; from the common practice of tickling the ribs to cause laughter.

ribbit

Origin

An imitative (onomatopoeic) word that mimics the actual sound frogs make.

ribbon

Old French

From Middle English riban, borrowed from Old French riban/ruban, likely ultimately from a Germanic word related to "band."

ribibe

Origin

See rebec.

Ricardo

Spanish

From Portuguese and Spanish Ricardo; a doublet of Richard.

rice

Old French

From Old French ris, ultimately traced back through Greek and Persian to an Eastern language, possibly Sanskrit or an early Dravidian source — reflecting how far the crop travelled before reaching English.

rich

Old French

From Old English rice ("powerful, wealthy"), reinforced later by the related Old French riche. Both trace back to a very old word meaning "king" or "ruler," which is also the source of the name Richard.

Richard

Origin

Rhyming slang and euphemistic use of the common given name Richard, unrelated to the word "rich."

Richards

Origin

From Richard + -s.

richdom

Origin

Probably a calque of a similar formation in a continental West Germanic language, such as Dutch rijkdom (“wealth”) or German Reichtum (“wealth”); equivalent to rich + -dom. Compare Middle English richedom (“wealth, riches”), Old English rīċedōm (“dominion”), Swedish rikedom (“wealth, richness”), and Icelandic ríkidómur (“riches, power”).

Riche

Old French

As an English surname, from Rich. As a French surname, from Old French riche.

richen

Origin

From rich + -en.

riches

Old French

From Middle English riches, the plural of riche ("power, wealth"), from Old English rice. It was later reinforced and reshaped by the unrelated-looking Old French richesse.

Richie

Origin

From Richard.

richly

Old English

From Old English rīclīce, formed from rich plus the adverb-forming suffix -ly.

Richmond

French

From Middle English Rychemund, cognate with French Richemont ("town in Normandy"), equivalent to rich + mound.

richness

Middle English

From Middle English richenesse, formed from rich plus the noun-forming suffix -ness.

Richter

Origin · 1930

Named after American seismologist Charles F. Richter, who co-developed the scale in the 1930s.

ricin

Latin

Borrowed from Latin ricinus, the name of the castor-oil plant the poison is extracted from.

rick

Old English

From Old English hrycce ("rick, heap, pile"), an old Germanic word for a stacked pile.

Rickard

Origin

From a medieval variant of Richard.

rickets

Origin

The origin is unclear; it seems to have started as a local dialect name for the disease in Dorset and Somerset, England, before physician Daniel Whistler popularised it as the medical term.

rickety

Origin

Probably from a dialect word "ricket" meaning unstable, possibly influenced by the word rickets.

Ricki

Origin

From Richard. As a female name also from Erica.

rickroll

English

A blend of the first name of the singer Rick Astley and roll, formed on the model of the earlier bait-and-switch link joke known as the duckroll.