reif

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reif

Where it comes from

From Middle English ref, reaf, reif, from Old English rēaf (“plunder, spoil, booty, raiment, garment, robe, vestment, armor”), from Proto-West Germanic *raub, from Proto-Germanic *raubą, *raubaz (“rape, robbery”), from Proto-Indo-European *Hrewp- (“to rip, tear”).

Cognate with Scots reif, rief (“robbery, depredation, spoliation”), Saterland Frisian roowje (“loot, rob”), Dutch roof (“spoil, booty, robbery”), German Raub (“robbery, spoils, plunder”). See also reave, robe.

noun reifs · rief

Scotland, obsolete, uncountable, usually Robbery. The opposition, which, as we shall see, was headed by Archbishop Beaton, protested against the "daily slaughters, murders, reifs, thefts, depredations, and heavy attemptates, that are daily and hourly committed within this realm in fault of justice."

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MLA

"reif." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/reif. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

reif. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/reif

Chicago

"reif." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/reif.

BibTeX

@misc{reif_2026,
  title = {reif},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/reif},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}