reed

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ɹiːd/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English rede, inherited from Old English hrēod (“reed, rush”),^[2][3][4] from Proto-West Germanic *hreuda,^[4][5] source also of Old Saxon hriod, Middle Dutch ried (Dutch riet) and Old High German hriot (German Ried).^[2][3] Etymonline knows no cognates outside Germanic,^[3] while Barnhart and Merriam-Webster compare Lithuanian krutėti, to stir, move, from Proto-Indo-European *kreut-.^[2][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The tall stalk of a grass growing in wet places: about 725 in the OED, about 700 in Barnhart.^[7][2]

Semantic evolution

A bed of reeds is from before 800,^[7] reeds used for thatching from 1494,^[7] and wheat straw prepared for thatching from 1415–16.^[7] A musical pipe made from a reed is from the late 14th century,^[3] and the vibrating strip of cane in the mouthpiece of a wind instrument a later sense.^[8][9] Figurative use, as of a weak or wavering person, is from about 1450.^[7][3] The verb, to thatch with reed, is from late Middle English.^[10][6]

Timeline

• c. 725 – a reed stalk.^[7]
• before 800 – a bed of reeds.^[7]
• late 14th century – a musical pipe.^[3]
• c. 1450 – figurative use.^[7]
• 1494 – reeds for thatching.^[7]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. Any of various tall grasses of wet places, with hollow jointed stems, or one of their stalks.
2. Reeds collectively, especially as used for thatching.
3. (music) A thin strip of cane or metal in the mouthpiece of certain wind instruments that vibrates to produce sound.
4. A woodwind instrument played with a reed.

Word family

• reedlike
• reedbird
• reedbuck
• reedling
• reedman
• reedy
• double-reed

Related words

• rush

Usage notes

In Scots dialect, a reed was also a cattle-yard.^[11]

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
9. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
10. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ 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)