Etymograph

English

race

Race comes from Old Norse rás ‘a running, race’, from Proto-Germanic *rēsō ‘a course’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₁reh₁s- ‘to flow, rush’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₁reh₁s-1‘to flow’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*rēsō1‘a course’reconstructed
  3. Old Norsec. 800–1350rás1‘a running’
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500race1
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1603race1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English race
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1603, Ben Jonson, Sejanus His Fall: “A race of wicked acts / Shall flow out…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₁reh₁s-Wiktionary, English race‘to flow’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*rēsōWiktionary, English race‘a course’reconstructed
  3. Old Norsec. 800–1350rásWiktionary, English race‘a running’
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500raceWiktionary, English race
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1603raceWiktionary, English race. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1603, Ben Jonson, Sejanus His Fall: “A race of wicked acts / Shall flow out…”

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Another origin of race

  1. Italianc. 1300–presentrazza
  2. Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600race
  3. Englishtodayrace

Partially displaced native Middle English kinde (‘kind, type, sort, race, nature’), whence English kind. Fully displaced native Old English cnōsl and hād.

Another origin of race

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*wréh₂ds‘root’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*wrādīks‘root’reconstructed
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEradix‘root’
  4. Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600raïz
  5. Englishtodayrace

Another origin of race

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CErāsus‘scraped’
  2. Vulgar Latinc. 100–700 CE*raso‘to shave’reconstructed
  3. Anglo-Normanc. 1066–1400raser
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500rasen
  5. Englishtodayrace

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Today it means

noun A contest between people, animals, vehicles, etc. where the goal is to be the first to reach some objective.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “race”. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *h₁reh₁s- / race