Etymology — The origins of English words

From re- + fret.

From regent + -al.

Borrowed from Latin pūrificātīvus.

From French protubérance, from Latin prōtubērantia (“bulge; protuberance”), from prō + tūber (“swelling; protuberance”) + -antia (“-ance”).

From re- + air.

From priority + -ise.

Unadapted borrowing from New Latin rachitis, used by the British physician Francis Glisson (1597–1677) to refer to rickets, from Koine Greek ῥαχῖτις (rhakhîtis) (in ῥαχῖτις νόσος (rhakhîtis nósos, “spinal inflammation”, literally “spinal disease”)), the feminine form of ῥαχίτης (rhakhítēs, “in or of the spine, spinal”), from Ancient Greek ῥάχῐς (rhákhĭs, “lower part of the back; (anatomy) backbone, spine”) (probably ultimately Pre-Greek) + -ῖτις (-îtis) (feminine form of -ῑ́της (-ī́tēs, suffix forming nouns with the sense ‘one connected to’)). By surface analysis, rach- + -itis.

Borrowed from Italian ravioli.

From repellent + -cy.

From re- + construe.

From quiescent + -ence, or borrowed from Latin quiescentia, from quiescens, present participle of quiesco, from quies.

From quick + -some.

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.

Borrowed from Sanskrit प्रीति (prīti).

From French pudique, from Latin pudīcus, from pudet (“it shames”).

From remind + -ful.

From (a reordering of) the initial letters of proteinaceous infectious particle. Coined by American neurologist and biochemist Stanley B. Prusiner in 1982.

Learned borrowing from Latin rēctrīx (“one who directs”). By surface analysis, rector + -trix.

From Dutch quagga (whence also Afrikaans kwagga), from a Khoisan term, probably Haiǁom, Khoekhoe ǁkoaah, apparently of imitative origin.

From push + back, or push back.

From psycho- + active.

Equivalent to puss(y) + -h.

From ranch + boy.

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.