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Etymology and origin of the English word rash

Pronunciation

rash1 hasty, reckless

Confidence
Probable
Formation
Inherited
First attested
c. 1380
Inherited from
Old English *ræsc via Middle English
Ultimate origin
Proto-Germanic *raskaz

Etymology

The adjective is inherited from Middle English rasch,[2][3][4] a Scottish and northern word,[5][3] probably inherited from Old English *ræsc, not recorded,[6][7][8] although Etymonline and Barnhart point to the second part of līgræsc (“flash of lightning”).[5][2][9] Merriam-Webster, Klein and Partridge instead take it from Middle Dutch rasch (“quick”) or Middle Low German rasch,[3][10][11] and Barnhart allows for both.[2] Its relatives include Old Frisian rosk (“quick”), Old High German rasc (“quick, strong”) (modern rasch (“quick, fast”)), Old Norse rǫskr (“vigorous, brave”) and Swedish rask,[6][7][10][5] from Proto-Germanic *raskaz.[5][12][8][7] Ayto relates the Germanic base to rather, and Etymonline to Old English horsc (“quick-witted”).[8][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Active, quick, eager: about 1380, according to Barnhart, already in the sense "impetuous";[2] the OED's first quotation for "hasty, reckless" is from about 1400, in Pearl.[6] Barnhart and Etymonline find it earlier as a surname, Rasshe in 1316.[2][5]

Semantic evolution

The first senses, "nimble, quick, vigorous", are now dialectal:[5][13][7] in Scotland and northern England an old person could still be called rash, meaning hale and hearty, in the 19th century.[14][6] Etymonline dates the sense "reckless, heedless of consequences" from about 1500,[5] and Hoad from the 16th century.[7] From 1533 the word was used of actions and speech as well as people.[6] Shakespeare also used it for a thing that acts quickly and strongly, and once for "urgent".[6] Johnson (1755) defined it as "hasty; violent; precipitate; acting without caution or reflection".[15]

Timeline

  • c. 1380 – rasch, active, impetuous.[2]
  • c. 1400 – hasty, reckless.[6]
  • before 1475 – adverb, rashly.[6]
  • 1533 – of actions or speech, ill-considered.[6]
  • 1600 – of a thing, acting quickly and strongly (obsolete by 1876).[6]
  • 1805 – of an old person, active, hale (Scottish and northern).[6]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Acting without enough thought for the consequences; reckless, impetuous: Don't be rash; sleep on the offer first.[16][3][6]
  2. Of an action, word or decision: done in too much haste; ill-advised: a rash purchase.[16][6][3]
  3. (Scotland and northern England, dialect) Active and vigorous, especially of an old person; hale.[3][6][14]

Adverb

  1. (archaic) Rashly.[3][6]

Word family

  • rashly
  • rashness

rash2 skin eruption

Confidence
Probable
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
1696 G. Harvey, Treatise of Small-pox and Measles
Borrowed from
French rache
Ultimate origin
Latin rādō

Etymology

The skin eruption is probably borrowed from French rache (“eruption of the skin, scurf, scabies”), also rasche, obsolete in French,[6][3][2][5] recorded in Middle French as raiche about 1335.[6][3] That noun comes from racher (“to scrape, scratch”),[6][3] from Vulgar Latin *rāsicō (“to scrape”),[6][3][5][2] from Latin rādō (“to scrape, shave”), past participle rāsus, the source of raze.[6][5][2][10] Etymonline and Klein compare Old Occitan rascar and Spanish rascar (“to scrape, scratch”),[5][10] and the OED and the Shorter Oxford Italian raschia (“itch”).[6][13][7] Hoad notes that the late appearance of the English word is against a direct link,[7] and Ayto takes the Old Northern French form of the same word as a possible source of rascal.[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

An outbreak of spots on the skin: 1696, in G. Harvey's Treatise of Small-pox and Measles, in the OED and Merriam-Webster;[6][3] Barnhart and Etymonline date it to 1709, in Steele's Tatler.[2][5]

Semantic evolution

Etymonline suggests that the link between scraping and the skin was itching.[5] The figurative sense, a sudden outbreak of many unwelcome things, is dated by 1820 by Etymonline and Barnhart,[5][2] then from 1854, in Dickens's Hard Times, by the OED, which notes that it has no parallel in the Romance languages.[6] To spread like a rash is recorded from 1922, and the originally Australian to be all over someone like a rash, to pay someone intense and persistent attention, from 1965.[6] French took the word back from English as rash in 1799.[6]

Timeline

  • 1696 – an eruption of spots on the skin.[6][3]
  • 1709 – in Steele's Tatler.[2][5]
  • 1820 – a sudden outbreak of something.[5][2]
  • 1854 – the same sense, in Dickens.[6]
  • 1922 – to spread like a rash.[6]
  • 1965 – all over someone like a rash (originally Australian).[6]

Meanings

Noun

  1. An outbreak of red spots or patches on the skin, as in measles or an allergic reaction: The new soap gave him a rash on his arms.[3][6][13]
  2. A sudden series of things of one kind, usually unwelcome, in a short time: a rash of break-ins on one street.[3][6][13]

Word family

  • heat rash
  • nettle rash
  • diaper rash

Usage notes

A third rash, a smooth fabric of silk or worsted worn from the 16th to the 18th century, is of uncertain origin: the OED compares Dutch and other parallels, while the Shorter Oxford and Merriam-Webster derive it from French ras, smooth.[6][13][3] Etymonline quotes the Century Dictionary on rashness and temerity: temerity refers rather to the disposition and to personal danger, rashness to the conduct, going by the feelings without the judgment.[5]

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  4. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  6. ^ 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 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  7. ^ a b c d e f g Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  8. ^ a b c d Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
  9. ^ Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement
  10. ^ a b c d Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  11. ^ Partridge, Eric (1966), Origins: A Short Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, 4th ed., London: Routledge & Kegan Paul
  12. ^ Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill
  13. ^ a b c d e Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  14. ^ a b 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)
  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 Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Rash.” Etymologically, 26 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/en/rash. Accessed 26 Oct. 2026.

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