Word.ws English Dictionary

raï

/ɹaɪ/

raï noun: a form of music, originating in Oran, Algeria from Bedouin shepherds.

Noun

raï (uncountable)

  1. A form of music, originating in Oran, Algeria from Bedouin shepherds.
    • Rai arrives in the US, in some ways, as the latest rage to hit the World Music record bins, the result of a new post-modern global marketing strategy.1991 March-April, David McMurray and Ted Swedenburg, "Rai Tide Rising" in Middle East Report no. 169, page 39 http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0899-2851%28199103%2F04%29169%3C39%3ARTR%3E2.0.CO%3B2-5
    • 1997: Karen Fog Olwig & Kirsten Hastrup, Siting Culture: The Shifting Anthropological Object — chapter 3: “Which world? On the diffusion of Algerian raï to the West” (by Marc Schade-Poulsen), p59: INTRODUCTION →ISBN (10); →ISBN (13))^†
      This chapter deals with raï music from Algeria. Since its...

Examples of raï in a sentence

  • In France, raï’s lack of commercial success was thought to have been caused by hidden French racism and the subsequent de facto absence of raï on commercial radio and prime-time television.1999: Marc Schade-Poulsen, Men and Popular Music in Algeria: The Social Significance of Raï, p34 →ISBN (10); →ISBN (13))
  • The rise of raï has paralleled the rise of Islamism in Algerian society, despite its mixing the male and female roles of musical production and consumption.2003: Tullia Magrini, Music and Gender: Perspectives from the Mediterranean — chapter 14: “‘And She Sang a New Song’: Gender and Music on...
  • At least three conflicting varieties of Raï drifted in through the open doorway of the bus, blasting from cafés in the square.2005, Jon Courtenay Grimwood, Pashazade, p33: §2:

Origin of raï

From French raï, from Algerian Arabic راي (rāy, “opinion”), from Arabic رَأْي (raʔy, “opinion”).

Words that rhyme with raï

48 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about raï

What does raï mean?
Raï means a form of music, originating in Oran, Algeria from Bedouin shepherds.
How do you use raï in a sentence?
In France, raï’s lack of commercial success was thought to have been caused by hidden French racism and the subsequent de facto absence of raï on commercial radio and prime-time television.
What part of speech is raï?
Raï is a noun.
How do you pronounce raï?
Raï is pronounced /ɹaɪ/.

Words near raï in the dictionary

  1. Raël
  2. Raëlian
  3. Raëlians
  4. Raëlism
  5. Raîche
  6. raï
  7. Raša
  8. Raška
  9. rb
  10. Rb-Sr
  11. RBA

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: raï (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “raï.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/ra%C3%AF. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.