Etymologically
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raw

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: UK /rɔː/, US /rɑː/, /rɔː/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English rau, inherited from Old English hrēaw (“uncooked”),[2][3][4] from Proto-Germanic *hrawaz,[2][3][4] also the source of Old Saxon hrāo, Dutch rauw, German roh and Old Norse hrár.[2][3] It goes back to Proto-Indo-European *kreue- (“raw flesh”),[2][3] which also gave Latin crūdus “raw” and cruor “blood”, Greek kréas “meat”, Lithuanian kraũjas “blood” and Sanskrit kravís “raw flesh”.[3][4][5] It is related to crude and cruel.[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Uncooked: about 1000 in the OED and Barnhart.[6][3]

Semantic evolution

Middle English also used it of things not yet worked, such as unspun silk, unfulled cloth and untanned hides.[2][4] Of skin, tender and sore, as when the flesh is exposed, is from about 1390.[3][2] Of weather, damp and chilly, is from 1546.[3][2] Of people, inexperienced or untrained, is from about 1500 in Etymonline and probably before 1590 in Barnhart.[2][3] Pigment names such as raw umber are by 1688, and raw material is from 1740 in Etymonline and 1796 in Barnhart.[2][3] Of data, not yet processed, is from 1904.[2] The noun, exposed flesh, is from 1823, in Byron,[3][2] which led to in the raw, naked (1921).[2] A raw deal is by 1893.[2]

Timeline

  • c. 1000 – uncooked.[6][3]
  • c. 1390 – sore, of skin.[3]
  • c. 1500 – inexperienced.[2]
  • 1546 – damp and chilly, of weather.[3]
  • 1591 – raw-boned.[3]
  • 1740 – raw material.[2]
  • 1823 – noun, exposed flesh.[3][2]
  • 1893 – raw deal.[2]
  • 1904 – of data, unprocessed.[2]

Modern meaning

Adjective

  1. Not cooked: raw fish.
  2. In its natural state; not processed or refined: raw sugar, raw materials.
  3. Of data, not yet analysed or adjusted.
  4. Sore, with the skin rubbed off.
  5. Untrained and inexperienced: a raw recruit.
  6. Of weather, cold and damp.
  7. Strong and not hidden, of feelings: raw emotion.

Noun

  1. in the raw: in a natural state; naked.

Word family

  • rawly
  • rawness
  • rawish
  • rawishness
  • rawboned
  • rawhide
  • semiraw
  • raw bar
  • crude
  • cruel
  • creosote

References

  1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  2. ^ 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
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  4. ^ a b c d Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  6. ^ a b Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press