英语词源字典 - 在线词源网站

raze (v.)[raze 词源字典]: 1540s, alteration of racen "pull or knock down" (a building or town), from earlier rasen (14c.) "to scratch, slash, scrape, erase," from Old French raser "to scrape, shave" (see rase). Related: Razed; razing.[raze etymology, raze origin, 英语词源]
razor (n.): late 13c., from Old French raseor "a razor" (12c.), from raser "to scrape, shave" (see rase). Razor clam (1835, American English) so called because its shell resembles an old folding straight-razor. Razor-edge figurative of sharpness or a fine surface from 1680s.
razorback (n.): type of pig with a sharp ridge-like back, 1849, from razor (n.) + back (n.). Especially of feral hogs in the U.S. South. Also used of narrow ridges of land.
razz (v.): "to hiss or deride," 1920, shortened and altered variant of raspberry (q.v.) in its rhyming slang sense. Related: Razzed; razzing. As a noun, in to give the razz, from 1919.
razzle-dazzle (n.): 1886, American English slang, varied reduplication of dazzle (q.v.).
My confrère, The Chevalier, last month gave a new name to the scarfs of disjointed pattern when he called them the razzle-dazzle. The name was evidently a hit of the most patent character, for in several avenue and Broadway stores the clerks have thrown out a display of broken figures before me and explained that the ruling style at present was the razzle-dazzle, and the word seems to have been equally effective with the public, for when it is quoted by the live salesman, the customer, I am told is at once interested and caught by it. ["Clothier and Furnisher" magazine, Jan. 1889]
Meaning "state of confusion" is from 1889.
razzmatazz (n.): 1894, perhaps a varied reduplication of jazz (n.). The word had early associations with that kind of music (later especially in contrast to swing).
RBI (n.): also R.B.I., in baseball, 1947, short for run batted in.
RCA (n.): 1922, initialism (acronym) of Radio Corporation of America.
re: "with reference to," used from c. 1700 in legalese, from Latin (in) re "in the matter of," from ablative case of res "matter, thing." Its use is execrated by Fowler in three different sections of "Modern English Usage."
re-: word-forming element meaning "back to the original place; again, anew, once more," also with a sense of "undoing," c. 1200, from Old French and directly from Latin re- "again, back, anew, against," "Latin combining form conceivably from Indo-European *wret-, metathetical variant of *wert- "to turn" [Watkins]. Often merely intensive, and in many of the older borrowings from French and Latin the precise sense of re- is lost in secondary senses or weakened beyond recognition. OED writes that it is "impossible to attempt a complete record of all the forms resulting from its use," and adds that "The number of these is practically infinite ...." The Latin prefix became red- before vowels and h-, as in redact, redeem, redolent, redundant.
re-absorb (v.): also reabsorb, 1761, from re- + absorb. Related: Reabsorbed; reabsorbing.
re-absorption (n.): also reabsorption, 1718, from re- + absorption.
re-accustom (v.): also reaccustom, 1610s, from re- + accustom. Related: Reaccustomed; reaccustoming.
re-acquaint (v.): also reacquaint, 1640s, from re- + acquaint. Related: Reacquainted; reacquainting.
re-acquisition (n.): also reacquisition, 1796, from re- + acquisition.
re-adjust (v.): also readjust, 1742, from re- "back, again" + adjust. Related: Readjusted; readjusting.
re-admission (n.): also readmission, 1650s; see re- + admission.
re-admit (v.): also readmit, 1610s, from re- "back, again" + admit. Related: Readmitted; readmitting.
re-affirm (v.): also reaffirm, 1610s, "to confirm anew," from re- "back, again" + affirm. Meaning "to assert anew" is recorded from 1842. Related: Reaffirmed; reaffirming.
re-affirmation (n.): also reaffirmation, 1845, noun of action from re-affirm.