"R" Word Origins

Reade

Origin

Spelling variant of Reid

reader

Old English

From Old English rēdere ("a reader, a diviner"), formed from "read" plus the agent suffix "-er."

readily

Origin

From "ready" plus the adverb suffix "-ly."

readiness

Origin

From "ready" plus the suffix "-ness."

reading

Old English

From Old English rǣding, formed from "read" plus "-ing."

readjust

Origin

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

readout

Origin

A deverbal noun formed from the phrase "read out."

ready

Old English

From Old English rǣde/ġerǣde ("prepared, ready"), from a Germanic root meaning "to arrange or make comfortable."

Reagan

Irish

Anglicized from Irish Gaelic Ó Riagáin ("descendant of Riagán").

reagent

Origin

Possibly from Latin reagō. Compare with Norwegian Bokmål reagens. The sequence of act → action → agent → agency shows morphologic and semantic parallel, and apparent cognate relation, with react → reaction → reagent → reagency.

reair

Origin

From re- + air.

real

Late Latin

From Old French reel, from Late Latin reālis ("actual"), ultimately from Latin res ("thing, matter").

real estate

Latin

'Real' here is the legal sense from Latin realis, relating to things (Latin res) rather than to persons — property in a thing, as opposed to personal property.

realise

French

From "real" plus the suffix "-ise," ultimately tracing back to French réaliser.

realism

Origin

From "real" plus the suffix "-ism."

realist

Origin

From "real" plus the agent suffix "-ist."

realistic

Origin

From "realist" plus the adjective suffix "-ic."

realistically

Origin

From "realistic" plus the adverb suffix "-ally."

reality

Late Latin · 1600

From French réalité, ultimately from Late Latin reālis ("real"); first used in English for "fixed property" before coming to mean "real existence" by the mid-1600s.

realization

French

From French réalisation, built from realize plus the noun-forming ending -ation.

realize

Latin

From real plus -ize ("to make"), echoing French réaliser; real traces back through Old French and Latin rēs, "thing."

really

Origin

From re- + ally.

realm

Latin · 1600

From Old French reaume/realme ("kingdom"), of murky origin, likely a blend of Latin regimen and rēgālis; the modern spelling settled around 1600.

realtor

Origin · 1916

Coined in 1916 by Charles N. Chadbourn from realty plus the agent-noun ending -or (as in "actor"), originally to label members of the U.S. National Association of Realtors.

realty

Middle French

From Middle French realité ("property, ownership"); a doublet of the word reality.

ream

Old French

From Old English rēam ("cream"); the paper-quantity sense entered English later via Old French and ultimately Arabic rizma, "bundle."

rean

Origin

From Middle English rene, rein (“strip of land forming a boundary; furrow; barrier; embankment”), from Old Norse rein (“a strip of land”), from Proto-Germanic *rainō (“baulk, ridge”), from Proto-Indo-European *rey- (“to cut, tear, scratch”). Related to Icelandic rein, Danish ren, Dutch rein, reen (“berm”), German Rain (“narrow strip of land between two fields”).

reanimate

Origin

From re- + animate (verb), probably after Medieval Latin reanimāre or French réanimer.

reap

Old English

From Old English rēopan/rīpan ("to reap"), from a Proto-Germanic root meaning to cut or harvest, ultimately from a Proto-Indo-European word for "to snatch."

reappear

Origin

From re- ("again") plus appear.

reapply

Origin

From re- ("again") plus apply.

rear

Old English

From Old English rǣran ("to raise, set upright"), from a Proto-Germanic root meaning "to cause to rise" — a doublet of raise, and related to rise.

rearguard

Origin

From Middle English rier garde, from Anglo-Norman reregard, reregarde, rereguarde and Middle French rieregarde, from Old French rereguarde (attested in The Song of Roland, c. 1150), from rere (“after; behind”) + guarde (“guard”). By surface analysis, rear + guard. Piecewise doublet of retrogarde.

rearing

Middle English

From Middle English rerynge, "raising."

rearrange

Origin

From re- ("again") plus arrange.

rearrangement

Origin

From re- + arrangement or rearrange + -ment.

rearview

Origin

From rear plus view.

reason

Latin

From Anglo-Norman raisun (Old French raison), from Latin ratiō ("reckoning, account"), from reor, "to think" — a doublet of ratio and ration.

reasonable

Latin

From Old French resnable, from Latin ratiōnābilis, from ratiō ("reason") — a doublet of rationable.

reasonably

Middle English

From Middle English resonably, equivalent to reasonable + -ly. Piecewise doublet of rationably.

reassemble

Origin

From re- ("again") plus assemble.

reassess

Origin

From re- ("again") plus assess.

reassign

Origin

From re- ("again") plus assign.

reassurance

Origin

From re- + assurance.

reassure

Old French

From Old French rasseürer, from re- plus asseürer ("to assure").

reave

Origin

From Middle English reven, from Old English rēafian, from Proto-West Germanic *raubōn. Germanic cognates include West Frisian rave, Old English rēaf (“spoils, booty”)), and Old English past participle rofen (“torn, broken”), Norwegian rjuva, German rauben, Danish røve, and Swedish röva. Outside of Germanic, related to Latin rumpō (“to break”), Lithuanian rùpti (“to roughen”), Sanskrit रोपयति (ropayati, “to make suffer”)). See rob and reif.

reaver

Origin

From Middle English revere (also revour, reiver, refar, reavere), from Old English rēafere (“reaver; robber; spoiler”), equivalent to reave + -er. Cognate with Saterland Frisian Roower, Dutch rover, German Räuber, Swedish rövare, Icelandic raufari. Compare robber, rover.

reaves

Origin

A patronymic form of the occupational name Reeve.