Etymologically
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riches

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Pronunciation

  • /ɹɪt͡ʃɪz/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English riches, originally a spelling of richesse,[2][3][4][5] borrowed from Old French richesse (“wealth, opulence, splendour”),[6][7][2] also Anglo-Norman richesce and richeise, recorded from the early 12th century.[8][2] The French noun is formed from riche (“rich, wealthy”) with the suffix -esse, from Latin -itia,[6][2] and riche is from Frankish *rīki (“powerful”),[6] of Germanic origin and related to rich.[9][7] Because the second syllable sounded like the plural ending “-es”, richesse was taken as a plural, and the spelling riches became the plural form while richesse was kept for the singular;[2][6][9] the OED thinks this was helped by the Latin plural dīvitiae (“riches”) and by association with rich.[2] Dictionary.com instead takes it as the plural of riche (“wealth, power”), from Old English rīce (“power, rule”), confused with richesse.[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

Valuable possessions, material wealth: c. 1275, in Laȝamon's Brut, in the OED's revised entry;[2] the first edition had c. 1205.[11] Etymonline dates richesse to about 1200 and says the change of spelling was clear by the 15th century.[6]

Semantic evolution

Merriam-Webster's Book of Word Histories gives riches as the reverse of the change that made sherry from sherris: here a singular was taken as a plural; the meaning stayed the same, but riches is treated as a plural.[9] In Middle English both spellings meant "wealth": a Wycliffite sermon says that riches please the flesh but tear the soul.[3] The word was used with singular agreement from c. 1330, but this is now rare.[2] From c. 1480 it was used figuratively for things of great value that are not material.[2] From 1538 it was also used for wealth personified;[2] the sense "richness, abundance", recorded from about 1400, died out by 1670.[2] Johnson (1755) defined it simply as wealth, money or possessions.[12] The phrase from rags to riches is recorded in the Shorter Oxford.[4]

Timeline

  • c. 1275 – valuable possessions, wealth.[2]
  • c. 1330 – with singular agreement (now rare).[2]
  • c. 1400 – richness, abundance (obsolete by 1670).[2]
  • c. 1480 – figurative, things of great non-material value.[2]
  • 1538 – wealth personified.[2]

Meanings

Noun

  1. Great wealth; plenty of money, valuable possessions or property: He spent his riches on horses.[13][14][2]
  2. Valuable or precious things, including things that are not material: the riches of the library.[14][2]
  3. (obsolete, c. 1400–1670) Richness; abundance; great worth.[2][15]

References

  1. ^ 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 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
  4. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  5. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  6. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  7. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  8. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
  9. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster's Book of Word Histories, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  10. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  11. ^ Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  12. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
  13. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  14. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
  15. ^ Benson, Larry D., Glossarial Concordance to Middle English (Chaucer, Gower), Johns Hopkins University, github.com/jhu-digital-manuscripts/gcme