"R" Word Origins

ranchgirl

Origin

From ranch + girl.

rancho

Spanish

Borrowed directly from Spanish rancho; related to the English word "ranch."

ranchwoman

Origin

From ranch + woman.

rancid

Latin

From Latin rancidus, "stinking" or "rank."

rancor

Latin

From Old French rancor, from Latin rancor, "rancidity" or "grudge" — the same root that gives us "rancid."

rand

Old English

From Old English rand, "edge or border" — the South African currency sense comes from the Witwatersrand goldfields, whose name literally means "white water's edge."

Randal

Origin

Variant of Randall.

Randall

Middle English · 1900

A Middle English variant of Randolph, preserved as a surname and revived in the 20th century.

Randolph

Old Norse

From Old Norse rǫnd ("shield") plus úlfr ("wolf") — literally something like "shield-wolf."

random

Old French

From Old French randon, "rush" or "impetuosity," itself from a verb meaning "to run" — the same root that gives us run.

randomly

Origin

From random + -ly.

randy

Middle English

First use appears c. 1665 in a letter by the Earl of Argyll. From Scottish randy (“boisterous, aggressive”), of uncertain origin. Probably from rand (“to storm, rave”, verb), a variant of rant, see rant; or from rand (“edge”, noun), in the sense of "edgy, on edge", from Middle English rand (“edge, brink, margin, border”), from Old English rand (“edge, border, margin, rim”). Related to randan.

Rane

Origin

Borrowed from Marathi राणे (rāṇe).

rang

French

Borrowed from French rang.

ranga

Origin

Australian slang, shortened from "orangutan" and popularised by the TV show Summer Heights High.

range

Old French

From Old French rengier, "to arrange in a row," related to rank and ring.

Rangoon

Origin

From the pronunciation of Burmese ရန်ကုန် (rankun) in the Rakhine dialect.

rani

Latin

From Sanskrit rājñī, "queen," the same root that gives Latin regina — making rani and regina distant word cousins.

rank

Old French

From Old English ranc, "proud" or "strong-growing," via Old French rang, "a row" — the same root that gives us range and arrange.

rankle

Origin

From Middle English ranklen, ranclen, from Old French rancler, räoncler, draoncler (“to ulcerate, to form a boil”), from Old French draoncle (“a boil”), from Latin dracunculus (“little serpent”), diminutive of Latin dracō (“serpent, dragon”).

rankness

Origin

From Middle English rankenesse, equivalent to rank + -ness.

ransack

Old Norse

From Old Norse rannsaka, literally "to search a house" — from rann ("house") plus a word meaning "to seek."

ransom

Latin

From Old French raençon, ultimately from Latin redemptio, "a buying back" — making ransom a distant word cousin of redemption.

ransomware

English

A blend of ransom and software, following the pattern of malware and spyware.

rant

Dutch

From Dutch ranten, "to talk nonsense or rave," of uncertain further origin.

ranting

Origin

From rant + -ing.

rantipole

Origin

From ranty and pole, poll (“head”).

Ranveer

Sanskrit

Borrowed from Sanskrit रणवीर (raṇavīra).

Rao

Sanskrit

* As an Italian surname, reduced from Radulfo. See Rolf, Ralph, Raul, etc. * As an Indian surname, from Marathi राव (rāv), Gujarati રાવ (rāv), Telugu రావు (rāvu), etc.; all ultimately from Sanskrit राजन् (rājan, “king”). * As a Chinese surname, from the place name 饒 /饶 (ráo). More at Rao.

Raoul

French

Borrowed from French Raoul.

rap

Middle English

From Middle English rap, rappe, of North Germanic origin, related to Norwegian rapp (“a blow, strike, lash”), Swedish rapp (“a blow, lash, crack”), Danish rap (“a tap, smart, blow”). Compare Old English hreppan (“to touch, treat”). More at rape.

rapacious

Origin

Perhaps from rapacity + -ous, in any case ultimately from Latin rapāx (“grasping, greedy”) + -acious.

rape

Middle English

From Middle English rapen, rappen (“to abduct; ravish; seduce; rape; seize; snatch; carry off; transport”), probably from Latin rapiō (verb), possibly through or influenced by Anglo-Norman rap, rape (noun) (compare also ravish). But compare Swedish rappa (“to snatch, seize, carry off”), Low German rapen (“to snatch, seize”), Dutch rapen (“to pick up, gather, collect”); the relationship with Germanic forms is not clear. Cognate with Lithuanian reikėti (“to be in need”). Compare also rap (“seize, snatch”). Further, some senses may be from Etymology 3, an Old Norse word.

Raph

Origin

Clipping of Raphael.

Raphael

Hebrew

From Hebrew Rafael, literally "God heals" or "God has healed."

rapid

Latin

From Latin rapidus, "hurried, seizing," from rapere, "to snatch or seize" — the same root that gives us rapture and rapacious.

rapidity

Origin

From rapid + -ity, from French rapidité, from Latin rapiditas.

rapier

Origin

Borrowed from Middle French rapiere, from Middle French (espee) rapiere, from Old French rapiere, raspiere, from Spanish raspadera (“poker; raker; scraper”), from Spanish raspar (“to scrape”), of Germanic origin. More at rasp.

rapport

French

From French rapport, "a bringing back" or "relation" — related to the word "report."

rapportage

Origin

From French rapportage, from rapport + -age.

rapprochement

Origin

Unadapted borrowing from French rapprochement (“act or process of getting closer together; link (between two things)”).

rapscallion

Origin

From an alteration of rascallion, a fanciful elaboration of rascal (“someone who is naughty”).

rapt

Origin

Borrowed from Latin raptus, past participle of rapio (“to seize”).

raptor

Latin

From Latin raptor, "plunderer" or "one who seizes" — the same root as "rapture" and "rapacious."

rapture

Latin

From Latin raptura, "a snatching or carrying off" — the same root that gives us "rapid" and "raptor."

Rapunzel

German

From German Rapunzel, originally the name of a lettuce-like salad plant that appears in the fairy tale itself.

Raquel

Spanish

From Spanish Raquel, ultimately from Hebrew Rachel.

rare

Latin

From Latin rarus, "thin, spaced apart, infrequent" — the idea of things being spread far apart gave us the modern sense of "uncommon."