Etymologically
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roach

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Pronunciation

  • UK: /ɹəʊtʃ/[1]
  • US: /ɹoʊt͡ʃ/[1]

roach1 freshwater fish

Etymology

The fish is inherited from Middle English roche,[2][3][4] apparently borrowed from Anglo-Norman roche,[5][6] recorded in Anglo-Norman from the 12th century,[6] beside Old French roche, roce and roque.[7][4][3] The French word is of uncertain origin.[5][8][3][7] Etymonline suggests a Germanic source, comparing Middle Dutch roche and Low German ruche,[8] and Skeat and Weekley took it from Middle Dutch, where the word meant a ray or skate;[9][10] the OED doubts this, since the two fishes are so unlike.[5] The OED and the American Heritage Dictionary also compare Medieval Latin rocea, recorded in England from the end of the 10th century, and the OED thinks the relative order of the Anglo-Norman, Latin and English forms cannot be settled.[5][11] Johnson derived the name from Latin rutilus (“red-haired”).[12]

Earliest recorded meaning

The fish Rutilus rutilus: roche glosses rocea in a Latin word list of about 1175, though it is uncertain whether that is English or Anglo-Norman;[5] Barnhart dates the English word to about 1200 and Etymonline to the late 12th century,[3][8] and the OED's first English record is from before 1425, in the Forme of Cury.[5]

Semantic evolution

The name was carried to North America for various freshwater fishes that resemble the European roach or were mistaken for it, from 1637, and later for the spot, a marine fish (1873).[5][8] Johnson (1755) called it a fish of no great reputation, "the water sheep" for its supposed foolishness.[12] The phrase as sound as a roach, very healthy, is recorded from 1655 and is now archaic;[5] Weekley compares French frais comme un gardon.[10]

Timeline

  • c. 1175 – roche in a Latin glossary.[5]
  • c. 1200 – the fish.[3]
  • before 1425 – first certain English record.[5]
  • 1637 – North American fishes resembling the roach.[5]
  • 1655 – as sound as a roach.[5]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A European freshwater fish of the carp family, Rutilus rutilus, with reddish fins.[13][2][5]
  2. Any of various similar fishes, especially North American ones such as the golden shiner.[2][5][13]

roach2 cockroach

Etymology

The insect name is a clipping from English cockroach,[5][2][3][8][13] as if that word were a compound.[8] Cockroach itself is from Spanish cucaracha, reshaped after cock and the fish roach,[3][8][14] and the Spanish word is perhaps an extended form of cuca (“a kind of caterpillar”).[5][3][8] The OED suggests that the short form spread partly to avoid the indecent sense of cock, and partly by analogy with pairs such as cockchafer and chafer;[5] Etymonline doubts the polite explanation, noting that early uses are mostly in natural history writing.[8] The slang sense, the butt of a marijuana cigarette, is treated as the same word by the OED, Merriam-Webster and Barnhart,[5][2][3] perhaps for its brown, stubby look,[5] but the OED, the Shorter Oxford and Etymonline allow that it may be a different word,[5][7][8] and Ayto calls the abbreviation probable but not certain.[14]

Earliest recorded meaning

A cockroach: 1822, in the Maryland Gazette;[5][2] Etymonline has it by 1830 and Barnhart in 1837, as an Americanism.[8][3]

Semantic evolution

The short form was long felt to be American; an English translator of 1848 apologized to American ladies for using it, and noted that in the United States women said roaches instead of cockroaches for euphony.[8][5] In American slang roach became a term of contempt, for a poor racehorse in 1901,[15] and for a despicable person from 1929.[5] It was also used for a policeman from 1932.[5] The sense "butt of a marijuana cigarette" is recorded from 1935,[5] or 1938 in Barnhart and Etymonline,[3][8] and was extended to the butt of a tobacco cigarette or a cigar in 1939;[5] in British use it also names a rolled-up piece of card used as a filter in such a cigarette.[5] The roach clip that holds the butt is recorded by 1968.[8]

Timeline

  • 1822 – a cockroach.[5][2]
  • 1901 – slang, an inferior racehorse.[15]
  • 1929 – slang, a despicable person.[5]
  • 1932 – slang, a policeman.[5]
  • 1935 – slang, the butt of a marijuana cigarette.[5]
  • 1968 – roach clip.[8]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A cockroach.[13][2][5]
  2. (slang) The butt of a marijuana cigarette.[13][2][5]
  3. (US slang, derogatory) A despicable person.[5][7]
  4. (US slang, now rare) A police officer.[5][7]

Word family

  • roach clip

Usage notes

Two further words are spelled roach.[5][2] One, in sailing, is an upward curve cut in the foot of a square sail, and later the curved part of a fore-and-aft sail beyond a straight line (1794); the OED takes it as apparently a transferred use of the fish's name, after the arched back of roach-backed animals,[5][11] while Merriam-Webster and the Oxford Dictionary of English call it of unknown origin.[2][16] From it come a roll of hair brushed up from the forehead (1872) and the verb roach, to clip a horse's mane short so that it stands up (1803).[5][2] The other is a regional variant of roche, rock, used in mining for a seam of coal (1653) and for a coarse variety of Portland stone (1813).[5][7][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 Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  4. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ 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 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  6. ^ a b Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
  7. ^ a b c d e f Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  9. ^ Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  10. ^ a b Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
  11. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  12. ^ a b Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
  13. ^ a b c d e Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  14. ^ a b Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
  15. ^ a b Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
  16. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press