raca

From Middle English rakke, from Middle Dutch rac, from the root of Proto-West Germanic *rakkjan (“to stretch”).

raca m (genitive singular raca, nominative plural racaí)

1. rack (series of shelves; frame for hanging objects; cut of meat)

• Dinneen, Patrick S. (1904) “raca”, in Foclóir Gaeḋilge agus Béarla, 1st edition, Dublin: Irish Texts Society, page 556
• Ó Dónaill, Niall (1977) “raca”, in Foclóir Gaeilge–Béarla, Dublin: An Gúm, →ISBN

• racha, racca

Borrowed from Ancient Greek ῥακά (rhaká), from Aramaic רֵיקָא (rēqā, “worthless person”) or Classical Syriac ܪܝܩܐ (rēqā, “vanity”).

raca (Ecclesiastical Latin)

1. idiot!, putz!
   • 4th C. CE, Saint Jerome, Vulgate, Matthew 5:22:

     Quī autem dīxerit frātrī suō, raca!, reus erit conciliō.

     And whoever says to his brother, idiot!, shall be liable to answer to the council.

   • 397 CE, Tyrannius Rufinus (translator), Instituta Monachorum, question 145, original author: Basil of Caesarea, in Patrologia Latina (volume 103), Jacques-Paul Migne (editor), Paris 1851, column 538:

     Quid est raca? Respōnsum: Prōvinciālis, id est, gentīlis illīus sermō est velut convīciī leviōris, quod domesticīs et hīs quōrum fīdūciam quis gerit, dīcī solet.

     What is raca? The answer: A provincial, that is, a pagan word used for example as a mild insult, which is usually said to servants and to those who rely on you.

raca n (indeclinable) (Ecclesiastical Latin, hapax legomenon)

1. (metonymic) the act of calling someone ‘raca’.
   • c. 393 CE, Saint Jerome, Against Jovinianus 2.31, in Patrologia Latina (volume 23), Jacques-Paul Migne (editor), Paris 1883, column 342:

     Dē eō autem quod nīteris approbāre, convīcium et homicīdium, raca et adulterium, et ōtiōsum sermōnem, et impietātem ūnō suppliciō repēnsārī, […]

     As to the fact that you argue that an insult and a murder, calling somebody a putz and adultery, idle talk and impiety should be rewarded with the same punishment, […]

• “racha” in volume 11, part 2, column 18, line 63 in the Thesaurus Linguae Latinae (TLL Open Access), Berlin (formerly Leipzig): De Gruyter (formerly Teubner), 1900–present

From Proto-Germanic *rakō, *rekô (“rake”).

• IPA^(key): /ˈrɑ.kɑ/

raca m

1. rake

   Synonym: racu

Borrowed from Italian razzo, from Latin radius.

• IPA^(key): /ˈra.t͡sa/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -at͡sa
• Syllabification: ra‧ca

raca f

1. flare
2. firework

   Synonyms: fajerwerk, sztuczne ognie

• raca in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• raca in Polish dictionaries at PWN

Possibly from Albanian rosë.

• IPA^(key): /ràːt͡sa/

ráca f

1. duck (aquatic bird of the family Anatidae)

• “raca”, in Slovarji Inštituta za slovenski jezik Frana Ramovša ZRC SAZU (in Slovene), 2014–2025

• IPA^(key): [ˈɾa.t͡ʃa]

raca

1. (stative) to be torn

• Rika Hayami-Allen (2001) A descriptive study of the language of Ternate, the northern Moluccas, Indonesia, University of Pittsburgh