rape
Definition, pronunciation, etymology, and usage for the English word. Free spelling reference powered by Wiktionary.
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4 characters
Language
English
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Detailed reference entry for the English word "rape", 4-letters, with pronunciation in International Phonetic Alphabet notation, etymology traced through Germanic and Romance roots where applicable, common misspelling variants catalogued from Hunspell error dictionaries, and usage frequency ranked against the top 100,000 English words in the Wordfreq corpus. PlainSpell covers English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German spelling with confusable-pair detection that highlights visually and phonetically similar words. This entry for "rape" includes synonyms, antonyms, homophones, and cross-language translation pointers sourced from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org extract. Whether you are verifying the correct spelling of "rape" for academic writing, checking homophone confusion, or exploring etymological origins, this page provides a citation-backed, free reference that requires no sign-up.
rape is aEnglishnoun. It means: The act of forcing sex upon another person without their consent or against their will; originally coitus forced by a man on a woman, but now generally any sex act forced by any person upon another... Pronounced /ˈɹeɪ̯p/. It ranks #3,127 in English word frequency. Often confused with re and RP.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | rape |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈɹeɪ̯p/ |
| Letters | 4 |
| Frequency rank | #3,127 |
| Misspellings tracked | 5 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Frequency rank visualization
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for rape is 4 letters long, classified as anoun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈɹeɪ̯p/. Corpus data places it at rank #3,127 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text.Wiktionary records 7 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our Hunspell-derived misspelling index lists 5 documented wrong-spelling variants for rape, with forms such as "arpe", "raep", and "rappe". Each variant represents a distinct typo pattern that appears often enough in corpora to be worth flagging, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution.It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "re", "RP", "ray", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English rapen, rappen (“to abduct; ravish; seduce; rape; seize; snatch; carry off; transport”), probably from Latin rapiō (verb), possibly through or influenced by Anglo-Norman rap, rape (noun) (compare also ravish). But compare Swedish rappa (“… Root origin matters for spelling because borrowed morphemes (Greek, Latin, Old French, Old English) carry their source-language orthographic conventions into modern English, which is why historical etymology is often the cleanest predictor of whether a cluster like "-ough", "-eau", or "-tion" will appear. For readers arriving here from a spelling check, the authoritative guidance is: the correct English form is rape, spelled R-A-P-E, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.
Definition
- 1The act of forcing sex upon another person without their consent or against their will; originally coitus forced by a man on a woman, but now generally any sex act forced by any person upon another person, regardless of gender; by extension, any non-consensual sex act forced on, perpetrated by, or forced to penetrate any being.
- 2An experience that is pleasant for one party and unpleasant for the other, particularly when the unwilling partner's suffering is worse than necessary.
- 3An experience that is pleasant for one party and unpleasant for the other, particularly when the unwilling partner's suffering is worse than necessary.
- 4The taking of something by force; seizure, plunder.
- 5The abduction of a woman, especially for sexual purposes.
- 6That which is snatched away.
- 7Movement, as in snatching; haste; hurry.
Etymology
From Middle English rapen, rappen (“to abduct; ravish; seduce; rape; seize; snatch; carry off; transport”), probably from Latin rapiō (verb), possibly through or influenced by Anglo-Norman rap, rape (noun) (compare also ravish). But compare Swedish rappa (“to snatch, seize, carry off”), Low German rapen (“to snatch, seize”), Dutch rapen (“to pick up, gather, collect”); the relationship with Germanic forms is not clear. Cognate with Lithuanian reikėti (“to be in need”). Compare also rap (“seize, snatch”). Further, some senses may be from Etymology 3, an Old Norse word.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: arpe,raep,rappe,rpae,rrape
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
Relative frequency of common misspelling types for rape
Misspelling Variants of "rape"
Frequency rank: #3,127 in English
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Nearby English words
Other entries that begin with the letter R in our English index: