Etymologically
Log in

row

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 15 October 2026 at 22:18. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

English has three words spelled row: “a line”, from Old English rāw, and “to use oars”, from Old English rōwan, both pronounced /rəʊ/, and the 18th-century “quarrel”, pronounced /raʊ/, of uncertain origin.[1][2][3]

row1 line

Pronunciation

  • IPA: UK /rəʊ/, US /roʊ/[3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English rawe, rewe,[1][4] inherited from Old English rāw (“a row, line; succession, hedgerow”), late Old English rēawe, rēwe,[1][4] from Proto-Germanic *raiwiz or *rai(h)waz,[1][4] probably related to Middle Dutch rie (Dutch rij) and Middle High German rīhe, German Reihe “row, line, series”.[1][5][4] The Germanic word is possibly from Proto-Indo-European *rei- (“to scratch, tear, cut”), which also gave Sanskrit rikhati “scratches” and rekhā “line”.[4][1][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Order, succession: probably before 1200, in the Ancrene Riwle,[1] and a line of people or things about 1200 in Barnhart,[1] before 1225 in the OED.[7] Old English rāw is from 940.[1]

Semantic evolution

A number of houses in a line, and hence a street, is from the mid-14th century, chiefly Scottish and northern according to the OED.[4] A class or category of persons is from before 1300.[7] A line of seats in a theatre is from 1710, and a line of plants in a field from 1733,[4] hence the American a hard row to hoe, from 1823.[4] In music, a tone row is from 1936.[7]

Timeline

  • 940 – Old English rāw.[1]
  • a. 1200 – order, succession; a line.[1]
  • mid-14th century – a row of houses.[4]
  • 1710 – a row of seats.[4]
  • 1733 – a row of plants.[4]
  • 1823 – a hard row to hoe.[4]
  • 1936 – a tone row.[7]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. A number of people or things arranged in a usually straight line.
  2. A succession without a break: three wins in a row.
  3. A continuous line of buildings along a street, or the street itself.
  4. A line of seats in a theatre.
  5. A horizontal line of entries in a table or matrix.

Verb

  1. To place in a row.

Word family

  • rowhouse

row2 use oars

Pronunciation

  • IPA: UK /rəʊ/, US /roʊ/[3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English rowen, rouwen,[1][4] inherited from Old English rōwan (“to go by water, row”), a strong verb,[1][4][5] from Proto-Germanic *rō-,[4][5] also the source of Old Norse róa, Dutch roeien and Middle High German rüejen.[1][4][5] The root is Proto-Indo-European *ere- (“to row”),[4][1] which also gave rēmus (“oar”), Greek eréssein “to row”, Old Irish ráme “oar”, Lithuanian irti “to row” and Sanskrit arítra “oar”.[1][5][8] It is related to rudder and trireme.[9][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

“To propel a boat with oars”: about 950 in Old English,[1] before the 12th century in Merriam-Webster.[6] Middle English rouwen is from before 1200, in Layamon's Brut.[1]

Semantic evolution

The figurative phrase row against the flood, to attempt something hard, is from the mid-12th century.[4] The verb became transitive, to carry in a rowed boat, in the 14th century,[5] and weak past forms appeared in the 13th.[5] The noun, an act or spell of rowing, is from 1832, in American English,[1][7] and rowboat from 1538.[1] The rowing machine is from 1848.[4]

Timeline

  • c. 950 – Old English rōwan.[1]
  • a. 1200 – Middle English rouwen.[1]
  • 14th century – transitive use.[5]
  • 1538 – rowboat.[1]
  • 1832 – noun, a spell of rowing.[1][7]
  • 1848 – the rowing machine.[4]

Modern meaning

Verb

  1. To move a boat through water using oars.
  2. To carry in a boat propelled by oars.
  3. To compete in a rowing race, or against another crew.

Noun

  1. A trip in a rowing boat, or an act of rowing.

Word family

  • rower
  • rowing
  • rowboat

row3 quarrel

Pronunciation

Etymology

Its origin is uncertain.[1][5][6] It began as slang, in Etymonline Cambridge student slang,[4][1] and may be related to, or a shortening of, rouse “a carousal, drinking bout”, from 1602 in Shakespeare's Hamlet, itself a shortening of carouse.[1][4] Klein suggests a back-formation from rouse taken as a plural, as pea came from pease.[8][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

A violent disturbance or commotion, a noisy quarrel: 1746.[7][1][4]

Semantic evolution

It was considered slang or “low” speech in the mid-18th century,[2] and came into common use in the early 1800s together with its probable derivative rowdy.[1][2] The verb meant at first to tease or rough someone up, from 1790,[1] and to make a noisy commotion from 1797.[1] The general sense “noise, din” is from 1845,[7] and what's the row?, what is the matter?, from 1837.[7]

Timeline

  • 1746 – a commotion, quarrel.[7][1]
  • 1790 – verb, to rough up.[1]
  • 1797 – verb, to make a commotion.[1]
  • 1837 – what's the row?[7]
  • 1845 – noise, din.[7]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. A noisy quarrel or dispute.
  2. A loud noise or commotion.

Verb

  1. To quarrel noisily.

Word family

  • rowdy
  • outrow
  • rouse
  • rudder
  • trireme

Usage notes

In Cornwall row was also coarse, undressed tin ore and the refuse of the stamping mills.[10]

References

  1. ^ 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 Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  2. ^ a b c Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  8. ^ a b c Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  9. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  10. ^ 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)