English word origin

Etymology of resh

From Proto-Semitic *raʾš- (“head”). Doublet of ras (“Ethiopian king”) and ras (“headland”), and related to reis.

1 source sectionExtended source reportWiktionary original ↗

In this entry · 1 source sections

The source etymologies

Wiktionary via Kaikki / Wiktextract

The source reports below are imported and unreviewed by *SET-U. Separate numbered origins and differing source variants are preserved; agreement within this extraction is not independent corroboration.

Unnumbered source etymology

Original entry ↗

noun

The twentieth letter of many Semitic alphabets/abjads (Phoenician, Aramaic, Hebrew, Syriac, Arabic and others). It is homologous with Greek rho and Latin r.

Selected source glosses provide context, not a complete modern definition inventory

From Proto-Semitic *raʾš- (“head”). Doublet of ras (“Ethiopian king”) and ras (“headland”), and related to reis.

Relationships mentioned by the source

These are extracted mentions, not a timeline or a verified sequence of immediate parents.

Unspecified derivation mention*raʾš-sem-pro
Doublet mentionrasen · Ethiopian king
Doublet mentionrasen · headland

Inspect preserved source fields

Raw extraction fields are retained for auditing. Their order does not establish ancestry.

{
  "templates": [
    {
      "name": "uder",
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "sem-pro",
        "3": "*raʾš-",
        "4": "",
        "5": "head"
      },
      "expansion": "Proto-Semitic *raʾš- (“head”)"
    },
    {
      "name": "doublet",
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "ras",
        "3": "ras",
        "t1": "Ethiopian king",
        "t2": "headland"
      },
      "expansion": "Doublet of ras (“Ethiopian king”) and ras (“headland”)"
    }
  ],
  "links": [
    [
      "*raʾš-",
      "Reconstruction:Proto-Semitic/raʾš-"
    ],
    [
      "ras",
      "ras#English"
    ],
    [
      "ras",
      "ras#English"
    ],
    [
      "reis",
      "reis#English"
    ]
  ],
  "references": [],
  "descendants": [],
  "lexical": [
    {
      "pos": "noun",
      "glosses": [
        "The twentieth letter of many Semitic alphabets/abjads (Phoenician, Aramaic, Hebrew, Syriac, Arabic and others). It is homologous with Greek rho and Latin r."
      ],
      "tags": [],
      "recordId": "68bd092298231f5a9921c8853105616c4ea5cdd5955e4261d13e2c76a6cd1bbc",
      "rawRecordSha256": "23090d0b4f8e42598394dd31e893a86975e54ba70087a646f42f2090045fe9a7",
      "sourceRecordOrdinal": 245184
    }
  ],
  "omittedAuxiliaryFields": {
    "templates": 0,
    "links": 0,
    "references": 0,
    "descendants": 0,
    "lexicalRecords": 0,
    "lexicalSenses": 0,
    "glosses": 0
  }
}

Where this record stops

This page does not supply an independently verified sound-change sequence, first-use manuscript or complete family tree unless a cited analysis explicitly establishes one. Missing detail here is a limit of this record—not a claim that humanity knows nothing more.

An older meaning does not determine what a word must mean today. Follow the sources, preserve disagreements, and keep ancestry separate from interpretation.

Contribute located evidence for resh →

Source and snapshot

Imported from Wiktionary contributors; extracted by Tatu Ylonen / Wiktextract / Kaikki.org. Selected fields are reformatted and grouped; wording, source identity and etymology sections are retained. CC-BY-SA-4.0 applies to the imported source material.

Dump: 2026-10-01 · Extracted: 2026-10-30. These are snapshot dates, not the word’s first attestation or the page’s revision date.

Source entry and bibliography ↗Wiktionary revision history ↗Acquisition and rights ledger

Machine-source provenance

Source SHA-256: 5ff2c072f8099f2d2ce484bd6957bf179f046d2ad37bc36555edf8bb84cb5291
Import run: 73216b9a9b78ed3830994bf853103716f5a4dc57099e371e9f8fdc468facca26
Permanent entry ID: w-cmVzaA