rain

/ɹeɪn/

More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations

Australia/ɹæɪn/

rain noun: condensed water falling from a cloud. Also the obsolete form of reign.

Noun

rain (usually uncountable, plural rains)

(usually) Condensed water falling from a cloud.
- We've been having a lot of rain lately.
- The rains came late that year.
(figuratively, usually) Any matter moving or falling, usually through air, and especially if liquid or otherwise figuratively identifiable with raindrops.
(figuratively, usually) An instance of particles or larger pieces of matter moving or falling through air.
- A rain of mortar fire fell on our trenches.

Verb

rain (third-person singular simple present rains, present participle raining, simple past and past participle rained)

(impersonal) To have rain fall from the sky.
- Judging by the black cloud, it will rain later today.
(figuratively, intransitive) To fall as or like rain.
- Tears rained from her eyes.
- Leaves rained from the tree.
(figuratively, transitive) To issue (something) in large quantities.
- The boxer rained punches on his opponent's head.
- Generous to a fault, they positively rained gifts on all their friends.

Proper noun capitalized: Rain

Rain

A female given name.

Also used as

rain is also the obsolete form of reign.

rain meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

rain in Hindi

condensed water from a cloud: बारिश bāriś, बरसात barsāt, मेंह mẽh, वर्षा varṣā, वृष्टि vŕṣṭi
any matter falling: वर्षा varṣā
an instance of particles falling: वर्षा varṣā
of rain: to fall from the sky: पड़ना paṛnā, पानी पड़ना pānī paṛnā

rain in Tamil

condensed water from a cloud: மழை maḻai, மாரி māri

rain in Marathi

condensed water from a cloud: पाऊस pāūs, वर्षा varṣā, वृष्टि vŕṣṭi
any matter falling: वर्षाव varṣāv
an instance of particles falling: वर्षाव varṣāv, वर्षा varṣā
of rain: to fall from the sky: आकाशपात ākāśpāt, आकाशातून पडणे ākāśātūn paḍṇe

rain in Urdu

condensed water from a cloud: بارِش bāriś, مین٘ہ mẽh, بَرْسات barsāt, باراں bārā̃, مَطَر matar, باران bārān
of rain: to fall from the sky: پڑنا paṛnā

More languagesFewer languages

rain in Bengali: বৃষ্টি briśṭi, বৃষ্টি পড়া briśṭi poṛa, বৃষ্টি হওয়া briśṭi hōẇa, পড়া poṛa
rain in Telugu: వాన vāna, వర్షం varṣaṁ, కురియు kuriyu, వర్షించు varṣiñcu
rain in Malayalam: മഴ maḻa, പെയ്യുക peyyuka
rain in Kannada: ಮಳೆ maḷe
rain in Punjabi: ਮੀਂਹ mī̃h, ਵਰਖਾ varkhā, ਬਰਸਾਤ barsāt, ਬਾਰਸ਼ bāraś
rain in Gujarati: વરસાદ varsād, વરસવું varasvũ
rain in Odia: ବର୍ଷା barṣā
rain in Sanskrit: वृष्टि vṛṣṭi, वर्षा varṣā, पर्जन्य parjanya, वर्षति varṣati
rain in Sinhala: වැස්ස wæssa, වහිනවා wahinawā
rain in Assamese: বৰষুণ boroxun, বৰষুণ দে boroxun de, বৰষুণ পৰ boroxun por, বৰষ borox
rain in Nepali: वर्षा varṣā, झरी jharī, पानी पर्नु pānī parnu
rain in Pashto: باران bārān, شيګره
rain in Tagalog: ulan, umulan, bumuhos
rain in Arabic: مَطَر maṭar, مطر maṭar, نطر naṭar, شتا šita
rain in Malay: hujan, panjang tangkai
rain in Indonesian: hujan
rain in Persian: بَارَان bārān, باران bârân, بارون bârun, مَطَر matar
rain in Thai: ฝน fǒn, ฝนตก
rain in Vietnamese: mưa
rain in Myanmar: မိုး mui:
Sindhi: بَرساتَ barsāta
Dhivehi: ވަރެއާ vareā
Kashmiri: روٗد rūd, بٲرِش bạ̄riś, وَرشا varśā, روٗد پیۆن rūd pyon
Dzongkha: ཆརཔ ch.rap

Examples of rain in a sentence

Bombs rained from the sky.
Reporters rained questions on the beleaguered police chief.
This process involves cloud seeding – when various substances are put into clouds in an attempt to cause rain.2019, VOA Learning English (public domain)

All 40 example sentences with rain

Forms of rain

Noun
plural	rains
alternative form (obsolete)	rayne
alternative form (obsolete)	raygne
Verb
third-person singular present	rains
present participle	raining
past participle	rained
past	rained
second-person singular present (archaic)	rainest
second-person singular past (archaic)	rainedst
third-person singular present (archaic)	raineth

Past tense of rain: rained

Plural of rain: rains

Origin of rain

Inherited from Middle English reyn, rein, from Old English reġn, from Proto-West Germanic *regn, from Proto-Germanic *regną, of uncertain origin. Possibly from pre-Germanic *Hréǵ-no-, from Proto-Indo-European *Hreǵ- (“to flow”), although the consonant reflexes don't match. Cognates Cognate with Yola rhyne, ryne (“rain”), North Frisian Riin, rin (“rain”), Saterland Frisian Rien (“rain”), West Frisian rein (“rain”), Dutch regen (“rain”), Limburgish raenger, Rään (“rain”), German Low German Regen, Ręgen, Rägen (“rain”), Luxembourgish Reen (“rain”), German Regen (“rain”), Mòcheno reng (“rain”), Vilamovian raan (“rain”), Alemannic German regu, räge, rägä (“rain”), Bavarian Regn, rein (“rain”), Cimbrian regan, réego, reng (“rain”), Yiddish רעגן (regn, “rain”), Danish, Faroese, Icelandic, Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk, and Swedish regn (“rain”), Crimean Gothic reghen (“rain”), Gothic 𐍂𐌹𐌲𐌽 (rign, “rain”).

From Middle English reinen, from Old English reġnian, from Proto-West Germanic *regnōn, from Proto-Germanic *regnōną, from *regną (“rain”), as above. Cognates Cognate with Cimbrian règhenan, rengen (“to rain”), Dutch regenen (“to rain”), German regnen (“to rain”), Limburgish raengere, rääne (“to rain”), Low German regen (“to rain”), Luxembourgish reenen (“to rain”), Yiddish רעגענען (regenen, “to rain”), Danish, Norwegian Bokmål regne (“to rain”), Faroese, Swedish regna (“to rain”), Icelandic rigna (“to rain”), Norwegian Nynorsk regna, regne (“to rain”).

Words formed from rain

Phrases with rain

85 more phrasesFewer phrases

Words that rhyme with rain

48 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about rain

What does rain mean?: Rain means condensed water falling from a cloud.
What is rain in Hindi?: Rain in Hindi is बारिश (bāriś), बरसात (barsāt), मेंह (mẽh). See Rain meaning in Hindi.
How do you use rain in a sentence?: Bombs rained from the sky.
What part of speech is rain?: Rain can be a noun, a verb or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce rain?: Rain is pronounced /ɹeɪn/ (UK).
What is the plural of rain?: The plural of rain is rains.

Words near rain in the dictionary

Adapted from Wiktionary: rain (page history and authors); Rain (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.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-uk-rain.ogg, en-us-rain.ogg.

Cite this entry: “rain.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/rain. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.