raw
Definition, pronunciation, etymology, and usage for the English word. Free spelling reference powered by Wiktionary.
Letters
3 characters
Language
English
word origin
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Detailed reference entry for the English word "raw", 3-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 "raw" 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 "raw" for academic writing, checking homophone confusion, or exploring etymological origins, this page provides a citation-backed, free reference that requires no sign-up.
raw is anEnglishadj. It means: (of food) Not cooked. Pronounced /ɹɔː/. It ranks #2,853 in English word frequency. Often confused with re and RS.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | raw |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adj |
| IPA | /ɹɔː/ |
| Letters | 3 |
| Frequency rank | #2,853 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Frequency rank visualization
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for raw is 3 letters long, classified as anadj, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ɹɔː/. Corpus data places it at rank #2,853 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text.Wiktionary records 13 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
No frequent misspelling variants are recorded for raw in our index, suggesting the orthography either follows predictable English patterns or the word is uncommon enough that typo corpora lack signal.It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "re", "RS", "rd", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English rawe, raw, rau, from Old English hrēaw (“raw, uncooked”), from Proto-West Germanic *hrau, from Proto-Germanic *hrawaz, *hrēwaz (“raw”), from Proto-Indo-European *krewh₂- (“raw meat, fresh blood”). Cognate with Scots raw (“raw”), Dutch ra… 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 raw, spelled R-A-W, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.
Definition
- 1(of food) Not cooked.
- 2(of food) Not cooked.
- 3Not treated or processed; in a natural state, unrefined, unprocessed. (of materials, products, etc.)
- 4Having had the skin removed or abraded; chafed, tender; exposed, lacerated.
- 5New or inexperienced.
- 6Crude in quality; rough, uneven, unsophisticated.
- 7Uncorrected, without analysis.
- 8Unpleasantly cold or damp. (of weather)
- 9Unmasked, undisguised, strongly expressed. (of an emotion, personality, etc.)
- 10Candid in a representation of unpleasant facts, conditions, etc.
- 11Unrefined, crude, or insensitive, especially with reference to sexual matters. (of language)
- 12Without a condom.
- 13Not covered; bare; bald.
Etymology
From Middle English rawe, raw, rau, from Old English hrēaw (“raw, uncooked”), from Proto-West Germanic *hrau, from Proto-Germanic *hrawaz, *hrēwaz (“raw”), from Proto-Indo-European *krewh₂- (“raw meat, fresh blood”). Cognate with Scots raw (“raw”), Dutch rauw (“raw”), German roh (“raw”), Swedish rå (“raw”), Icelandic hrár (“raw”), Latin crūdus (“raw, bloody, uncooked”), Irish cró (“blood”), Lithuanian kraujas (“blood”), Russian кровь (krovʹ, “blood”). Related also to Old English hrēow, hrēoh (“rough, fierce, wild, angry, disturbed, troubled, sad, stormy, tempestuous”). More at ree.
This word in other languages
Frequency rank: #2,853 in English
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Nearby English words
Other entries that begin with the letter R in our English index: