ration

Etymology

The modern sense is borrowed from French ration (“provisions allotted daily”),^[2][3][4][5] from Latin ratiō (“reckoning, calculation”);^[2][3][6] the earliest English senses, reasoning and ratio, are borrowed directly from the Latin word.^[2][4] In Old French the word is recorded in 1290 for a share of soldiers' pay held back in common; from 1643 it was used for provisions allotted daily to sailors.^[2] Hoad and the Shorter Oxford take the French word from Italian razione or Spanish ración,^[7][8] and Ayto says that the medieval Latin sense, an amount of provisions calculated for a soldier, came into English through Spanish and French.^[9] The Latin noun is formed from rat-, the past participle stem of reor (“to reckon, calculate, think”),^[3][9] from Proto-Indo-European *re- (“to reason, count”).^[3] The verb is formed from the noun.^[2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The faculty of reasoning: 1548, in L. Shepherd's Doctor Doubble Ale, a rare sense that soon died out.^[2][4]

Semantic evolution

The first two English senses, "reasoning" and "the relation of one quantity to another", passed to ratio and reason.^[3][2] The modern meaning came from French in the late 17th century: the OED dates a regular allowance of provisions, especially for soldiers in wartime, to 1687,^[2] and Etymonline and Barnhart date the food sense to 1702.^[3][4] In Australia it was also the food given to a worker as part of his pay (1838).^[2] Browning used the word in 1850 for a share of anything.^[2] According to the Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, the word became tied to official control of scarce food during the First World War; before then it belonged to the armed forces.^[10] The OED first records the civilian sense in 1915,^[2] and Etymonline by 1917.^[3] The verb meant at first to supply someone with rations (1834);^[2][11] since 1870 it has also meant to restrict the amount of a commodity each person may have.^[2][3] The war also gave the phrases come up with the rations, of medals given out without regard to merit (1918), and off the ration (1940).^[2]

Timeline

• 1548 – the faculty of reasoning (obsolete).^[2][4]
• 1653 – ratio (obsolete by 1893).^[2]
• 1687 – a regular allowance of provisions, especially for the armed forces.^[2] Etymonline and Barnhart date it to 1702.^[3][4]
• 1702 – a daily allowance of forage for a horse.^[2]
• 1834 – verb, to supply with a ration.^[2][11] Etymonline dates the verb to 1859.^[3]
• 1838 – in Australia, provisions given to a worker.^[2]
• 1850 – a share or allowance of anything.^[2]
• 1870 – verb, to restrict the amount of a commodity.^[2][3]
• 1915 – a fixed civilian allowance of food, clothing or fuel in a time of shortage.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A fixed allowance of food or other provisions, especially one given to soldiers in wartime or to civilians in a time of scarcity: a weekly butter ration.^[12][11][2]
2. rations: food, provisions.^[11][12]
3. A fair or sufficient amount of something: He has had his ration of praise for one day.^[12][2]
4. (obsolete, 1653–1893) A ratio.^[2][11][8]

Verb

1. To limit the amount of a commodity that people may have: The town rationed water during the drought.^[12][11][2]
2. To give out provisions in fixed amounts, often with out.^[12][11]
3. To supply a person or animal with rations; to put on rations.^[11][2]

Word family

• deration
• field ration
• iron ration
• K ration

Related words

• ratio
• reason
• rational
• rate
• ratify

Usage notes

Weekley noted that until about 1918 the word was usually pronounced to rhyme with nation, but the military pronunciation, rhyming with fashion, then became general.^[13][3] The OED adds that 19th-century dictionaries gave the long a as the only or usual pronunciation, and that the short a prevailed in British use after the early 20th century.^[2]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e f Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
5. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
7. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
10. ^ Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ a b c d e f g h Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
12. ^ a b c d e Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
13. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray