rethe
/riːð/
rethe adjective: (of persons) Fierce; cruel; savage; stern; zealous; ardent; keen.
Adjective
rethe (comparative rether or more rethe, superlative rethest or most rethe)
Adverb
rethe (comparative rether or more rethe, superlative rethest or most rethe)
Forms of rethe
| Adjective | |
|---|---|
| comparative | rether |
| comparative | more rethe |
| superlative | rethest |
| superlative | most rethe |
| alternative Scotland | reth |
| alternative Scotland | reithe |
| alternative Scotland | retht |
| Adverb | |
| comparative | rether |
| comparative | more rethe |
| superlative | rethest |
| superlative | most rethe |
Origin of rethe
From Middle English reth, rethe, from Old English rēþe (“fierce, cruel, savage, severe, stern, austere, zealous, wild, dire”), from Proto-West Germanic *rōþī, from Proto-Germanic *rōþijaz (“wild”), from Proto-Indo-European *rey- (“to scream, shout, roar, bellow, bark, growl”). Cognate with Scots reithe, reythe, reth (“rethe”), Old High German ruod (“a roar”), Middle High German rüeden (“to be noisy”), Bavarian rüeden (“to be noisy, roar, be in heat”).
Words formed from rethe
Words that rhyme with rethe
Questions about rethe
- What does rethe mean?
- Rethe means (of persons) Fierce; cruel; savage; stern; zealous; ardent; keen.
- What part of speech is rethe?
- Rethe can be an adjective or an adverb.
- How do you pronounce rethe?
- Rethe is pronounced /riːð/.
Words near rethe in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: rethe (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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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-rethe.wav.
Cite this entry: “rethe.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/rethe. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.