Etymologically
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rag

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Pronunciation

  • UK: /ɹæɡ/[1]
  • US: /ɹeɪ̯ɡ/[1]

rag1 scrap of cloth

Etymology

The scrap of cloth is inherited from Middle English ragge,[2][3][4] probably borrowed from Old Norse rǫgg (“tuft, shagginess, strip of fur”) or a related early Scandinavian form;[5][3][6][2][1] the OED also compares Norwegian ragg, Swedish ragg (“coarse, shaggy hair”) and Old Danish rag (“coarse, shaggy animal hair”).[5][7] Merriam-Webster and Partridge assume an unrecorded Old English *ragg, inferred from the adjective raggiġ (“shaggy”),[2][8][1] but Barnhart thinks this adjective very late and almost surely of Scandinavian origin.[3] Several dictionaries instead take ragge as a back-formation from ragged or raggy,[9][10][11][12][13] and the OED thinks those adjectives at least shaped its meaning, since the Scandinavian words refer to hair, not cloth.[5] Etymonline traces the Norse word to Proto-Germanic *rawwa-, from Proto-Indo-European *reue- (“to smash, knock down, tear up”),[6] and the OED to an ablaut variant of the root of Latin ruō (“to churn or plough up”).[5] It is related to rug and rugged.[6][3][14]

Earliest recorded meaning

In the plural, tattered or ragged clothes, often in the phrase in rags: before 1350 in the OED,[5] about 1325 in Barnhart.[3] The OED notes surnames with the word earlier, such as Galfridus Rag in 1222 and Willelmus Ragge in 1230.[5]

Semantic evolution

From the late 14th century a rag was a single piece of old cloth, especially one of the scraps left of a worn garment,[5][11] and in the 15th century it came to mean any torn shred or remnant, also of flesh.[5][11] By the 16th century it was used contemptuously of anything worthless,[11] and Johnson (1755) gave "a piece of cloth torn from the rest; a tatter" first.[15] From 1676 rag was also the material made from rags, especially paper, as in rag paper.[5] Other uses followed: a menstrual cloth (1606), slang for a flag (1698–1892), and an insulting name for a newspaper (1734).[5][6] In American English rags became jocular for any clothes, not only poor ones, by 1855.[5][6] The phrase rags to riches is attested by 1896, when a play called From Rags to Riches was mentioned in an American newspaper;[6][14] on the rag, menstruating, is from 1948.[6] Green's Dictionary of Slang records rag for money from about 1591, in Shakespeare, from its sense of a small amount, later reinforced by the paper banknote.[16] To lose one's rag, to lose one's temper, is from the early 20th century.[14][13]

Timeline

  • c. 1325 – ragge, in the plural, tattered clothes.[3]
  • c. 1390 – a piece of old cloth.[5]
  • c. 1425 – a shred or fragment of anything.[5]
  • c. 1450 – verb, to tear, make ragged.[5]
  • 1606 – a menstrual cloth.[5]
  • 1676 – cloth as a material for paper.[5]
  • 1734 – a newspaper, insultingly.[6]
  • 1855 – rags, clothes in general, in American English.[5][6]
  • 1896 – rags to riches.[6]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A piece of old cloth, especially one torn from a larger piece: She polished the car with an oily rag.[13][2][5]
  2. rags: old, torn or worn clothes, or informally clothes of any kind: dressed in rags.[13][2][5]
  3. A small piece or scrap of anything; a shred.[13][5]
  4. (informal) A newspaper or magazine, especially one thought to be of poor quality.[13][6]
  5. Cloth as a material, especially for making paper: rag paper.[5][13]
  6. lose one's rag (British informal): to lose one's temper.[13][14]

Verb

  1. (rare) To tear something, or to make it ragged.[5][9]

Word family

  • ragbag
  • ragged
  • ragman
  • ragpicker
  • ragtag
  • dishrag
  • do-rag

rag2 to tease; student prank

Etymology

The verb meaning to scold or tease is of unknown origin.[2][9][11][10][12] The OED suggests that it was perhaps a figurative use of rag1 as a verb, either "to tear", as with tear, or in a sense relating to clothing, as with dress down, and compares bullyrag.[5] Weekley took it as short for ballyrag or bullyrag,[17] while Etymonline and Ayto mention a possible link with Danish rag (“grudge”) in Danish dialect.[6][12] The noun, a rowdy prank or a students' celebration, is formed from the verb.[5][9][14]

Earliest recorded meaning

To scold, to give someone a dressing-down: 1739, in the Proceedings of the Sessions of the Peace.[5][16][3]

Semantic evolution

The milder sense, to tease or torment, especially to make fun of someone roughly, is recorded from 1749 and was at first university slang;[5] Etymonline dates it as student slang by 1808,[6] and Barnhart finds it in Jamieson's Scottish dictionary of 1808, after the stronger ballarag, to intimidate, in 1807.[3] The noun rag, first an act of ragging and then a noisy debate or rowdy celebration in defiance of authority, appears in 1825, again in Jamieson.[5][2] At British universities a rag became a traditional student revel of comic pageantry, and later a programme of stunts and parades to raise money for charity.[2][9] In Scots and northern English dialect to rag was to tease, vex or wrangle.[18] In ice hockey to rag the puck (1915) is to keep it by skilful stick-handling to waste time, and in American English to rag on, to criticize constantly, is from 1979.[5]

Timeline

  • 1739 – to scold.[5][3]
  • 1749 – to tease or torment, in university slang.[5]
  • 1807 – ballarag, to intimidate.[3]
  • 1825 – noun, a noisy debate or rowdy celebration.[5][2]
  • 1915 – to rag the puck, in ice hockey.[5]
  • 1979 – to rag on, to criticize, in American English.[5]

Meanings

Verb

  1. (chiefly British) To tease someone or play rough jokes on them: The older boys ragged him about his accent.[2][9][5]
  2. To scold severely; to rail at.[2][9][5]
  3. rag on (US informal): to criticize or complain about someone constantly.[5]
  4. rag the puck (ice hockey): to keep the puck by skilful stick-handling to use up time.[5]

Noun

  1. (British) A programme of stunts, parades and entertainments organized by students to raise money for charity.[9][2]
  2. (chiefly British) A boisterous prank or rowdy celebration, especially by students.[2][9][5]

Usage notes

Two other words are spelled rag.[5][12] A hard, coarse stone that breaks into slabs, as in ragstone, is recorded from 1278 and is of unknown origin, perhaps originally the same word as the cloth;[5][11][12] Weekley cites Kentish rag.[17] A rag in music, a piece of ragtime, is recorded from 1894 (1891 for a kind of dancing party); its origin is disputed, perhaps a shortening of ragged, from the syncopated rhythm,[5][3] though Etymonline and Ayto treat it as short for ragtime.[6][12]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  4. ^ Stratmann, Francis Henry (1891), A Middle-English Dictionary, revised by Henry Bradley, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  7. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  8. ^ Partridge, Eric (1966), Origins: A Short Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, 4th ed., London: Routledge & Kegan Paul
  9. ^ a b c d e f g h i Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  10. ^ a b Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  11. ^ a b c d e f Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  12. ^ a b c d e f Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
  13. ^ a b c d e f g h Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  14. ^ a b c d e Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  15. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
  16. ^ a b Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
  17. ^ a b Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
  18. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)