# raid

> English word · Noun · IPA /ɹeɪd/ · frequency rank #5,253

## Definitions
1. A quick hostile or predatory incursion or invasion in a battle.
2. An attack or invasion for the purpose of making arrests, seizing property, or plundering.
3. An attacking movement.
4. An activity initiated at or towards the end of a live broadcast by the broadcaster that sends its viewers to a different broadcast, primarily intended to boost the viewership of the receiving broadcaster. This is frequently accompanied by a message in the form of a hashtag that is posted in the broadcast's chat by the viewers.
5. A large group in a massively multiplayer online game, consisting of multiple parties who team up to defeat a powerful enemy.
6. An event involving a group of users, often using bots and scripts, who join a server to harm it or harass its members.

## Etymology
From Scots raid, from Northern Middle English rade, from Old English rād (“a riding, an expedition on horseback, road”), whence also the inherited English road (“way, street”). The earlier senses of “a riding, expedition, raid” fell into disuse in Early Modern English, but were revived in the northern form raid by Walter Scott in the early 19th century. The use for a swift police operation appears in the later 19th century and may perhaps have been influenced by French razzia (similar in both original meaning and sound).

## Easily confused with
- **rd** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/raid-vs-rd)
- **RI** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/raid-vs-ri)
- **red** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/raid-vs-red)
- **ran** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/raid-vs-ran)
- **ray** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/raid-vs-ray)
- **raw** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/raid-vs-raw)
- **rid** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/raid-vs-rid)
- **Rio** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/raid-vs-rio)
- **rip** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/raid-vs-rip)
- **RAM** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/raid-vs-ram)
- **rat** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/raid-vs-rat)
- **rod** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/raid-vs-rod)
- **rap** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/raid-vs-rap)
- **rig** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/raid-vs-rig)
- **rim** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/raid-vs-rim)
- **rib** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/raid-vs-rib)
- **raj** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/raid-vs-raj)
- **RBI** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/raid-vs-rbi)
- **Roi** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/raid-vs-roi)
- **Rao** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/raid-vs-rao)

## Common misspellings (4)
`radi`, `raidd`, `riad`, `rraid`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/raid