"R" Word Origins

ratty

Origin

From rat plus the adjective suffix -y ("having the quality of").

raucous

Latin

Borrowed from Latin raucus, meaning "hoarse" or "husky."

raunch

Origin

Back-formation from raunchy.

raunchy

Spanish

Origin uncertain; began as U.S. military slang, possibly linked to Mexican Spanish rancho, which once carried connotations of filth or squalor.

ravage

Latin

From French ravage, from ravir ("to snatch away"), ultimately from Latin rapere ("to seize"), the same root behind "rapid" and "rapture."

Ravana

Sanskrit

Borrowed from Sanskrit रावण (rāvaṇa).

rave

Old French

From Middle English raven, "to rave or talk like a madman," from Old French raver — related to rove.

ravel

Dutch

Borrowed from Dutch ravelen/rafelen, meaning to tangle or fray; the exact origin beyond that is uncertain.

raven

Old English

From Old English hræfn, going back to a Proto-Germanic word for the bird, likely imitating its harsh call.

ravening

Origin

Present participle of the obsolete verb raven (“to prey”).

Ravenna

Italian

Borrowed from Italian Ravenna, from Latin Ravenna.

ravenous

Old French

From Old French ravineus, related to a root meaning "predatory" or "plundering" — not actually related to the bird "raven," though people often assume it is.

ravenousness

Origin

From ravenous + -ness.

Ravi

Sanskrit

Borrowed from Sanskrit रवि (ravi, "the sun or the sun-god").

ravine

Latin

From French ravin ("a gully"), tracing back through Old French raviner ("to cascade down") to Latin rapina ("plunder"), the same root as "rapine."

ravioli

Origin

Borrowed from Italian ravioli.

ravish

Vulgar Latin

From Old French ravir ("to seize, snatch away"), from Vulgar Latin rapire, from Latin rapere ("to seize").

raw

Latin

From Old English hreaw, going back to a Proto-Indo-European root connected to raw meat and blood — the same root that gives Latin crudus, source of English "crude."

Rawdon

Old English

From Old Norse rauðr ("red") + Old English dūn ("hill").

rawhide

Origin

A compound of raw and hide.

Rawls

Origin

Patronymic from a medieval form of the personal name Ralph.

rawr

Origin

An onomatopoeic spelling imitating the sound of a roar.

ray

Latin

Borrowed through Old French rai from Latin radius ("spoke, staff") — the same root as "radius" and "radiate."

Rayburn

Origin

From the Scottish surname Rayburn/Raeburn, taken from a place name meaning "roe-deer stream."

Raylan

Origin

A modern coinage from Ray, comparable to Rylan and Braylon.

rayleigh

Origin

For Lord Rayleigh, English physicist

Raymond

Old French

From Old French Raimund, from Frankish *Raginmund, from Proto-Germanic elements meaning "advice" and "protection."

Rayne

Origin

Blend of River + Jayne.

raze

Vulgar Latin

From Old French raser ("to shave, to graze, to demolish"), from Vulgar Latin roots meaning "to scrape or shave" — the same family that gave English "razor" and "erase."

razer

Origin

Formed from "raze" plus the agent suffix "-er."

razor

Old French

From Old French rasour, from raser ("to scrape, to shave") — the same root as "raze."

razz

Origin

Clipping of raspberry.

RBF

English

An initialism of resting bitch face, an internet-era coinage that spread widely in the 2010s.

RDX

Origin

Short for "Research Department Explosive," reflecting its origin in British military research.

re

Latin

From Latin re, the ablative form of res ("thing, matter"), used in Latin legal phrases such as in re ("in the matter of").

reach

Old English

From Old English rǣċan ("to reach, to stretch out"), a very old Germanic verb related to Dutch reiken and German reichen.

reachability

Origin

From reach + -ability.

reachable

Origin

From "reach" plus the suffix "-able."

reached

Old English

From Old English rǣcan 'to stretch out, hand over'.

reacher

Origin

From "reach" plus the agent suffix "-er."

reaching

Origin

From "reach" plus the suffix "-ing."

react

Latin

Built from re- ("again") and act, echoing the Latin reagere ("to act back").

reaction

Latin

From Latin reactio, built from re- ("again") and agere ("to do, to act").

reactionary

French

Borrowed from French réactionnaire, coined around the time of the French Revolution to describe opponents of revolutionary change.

reactivate

Origin

From re- ("again") plus "activate."

reactive

Origin

From "react" plus the adjective suffix "-ive."

reactor

Origin

From "react" plus the agent suffix "-or."

read

Old English

From Old English rǣdan, which originally meant "to advise" or "to interpret" before narrowing to mean "to interpret written text."