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rathe

English

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rathe¹

  • /ɹeɪð/

Rhymes with -eɪð

Where it comes from

From Middle English rathe, from Old English hraþe, from Proto-West Germanic *hraþō, *hradō (“quickly”), from *hraþ, *hrad (“quick”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *kret- (“quick; to move quickly”). Cognate with German Low German radd, ratt (“rashly; quickly; hastily”), and German gerade (“now, just, exactly”); compare Dutch rad (“quick, swift”), Norwegian rad (“quick, direct”), Gothic 𐍂𐌰𐌸𐌹𐌶𐌰 (raþiza, “easier”).

adjective rather · rathest · rath

  1. poetic Ripening or blooming early. Bring the rathe primrose that forsaken dies.

adverb rather · rathest · rath

  1. obsolete Quickly.
  2. poetic Early in the morning.

Rathe²

Where it comes from

* As a German surname, variant of Rath.

* As a southern German surname, from a pet form of the name Konrad.

* As a French surname, variant of Ratte.

proper noun Rathes

  1. A surname from German.

Talk about this word

Cite this
MLA

"rathe." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/rathe. Accessed 7 Nov. 2026.

APA

rathe. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 7, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/rathe

Chicago

"rathe." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 7, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/rathe.

BibTeX
@misc{rathe_2026,
  title = {rathe},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/rathe},
  urldate = {2026-11-07}
}