Etymograph

English

rank

Rank (position) comes from Middle English rank ‘line, row’, from Old French ranc, from Frankish *hring ‘ring’.

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*hringaz1‘something bent or curved’reconstructed
  2. Frankishc. 250–700*hring1‘ring’reconstructed
  3. Old Frenchc. 842–1400ranc1‘line, row’
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500rank1‘line, row’
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1590rank1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English rank
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1590, Edmund Spenser, Book II, Canto III: “The seely man seeing him ryde so rancke, /…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*hringazWiktionary, English rank‘something bent or curved’reconstructed
  2. Frankishc. 250–700*hringWiktionary, English rank‘ring’reconstructed
  3. Old Frenchc. 842–1400rancWiktionary, English rank‘line, row’
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500rankWiktionary, English rank‘line, row’
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1590rankWiktionary, English rank. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1590, Edmund Spenser, Book II, Canto III: “The seely man seeing him ryde so rancke, /…”

The story

The sense referring to taste or odor is possibly influenced by rancor.

Full etymology on Wiktionary

Word family

English words that share an ancestor with rank, grouped by the ancestor they share, most familiar first.

through Proto-Indo-European *h₃reǵ- ‘straight, direct’

  • right ← reȝt ← reht ← *reht ← *rehtaz
  • real ← rēgālis ← rēx ← *rēks ← *h₃rḗǵs
  • director ← directeur ← dīrēctōrem ← dīrēctus ← dīrigō
  • source ← sours ← sorse ← surgō ← surrigō
  • region ← regioun ← regiun ← regiō ← regō
  • regular ← reguler ← reguler ← rēgulāris ← rēgula
  • rule ← reule ← riule ← regula ← regō
  • direction ← direccioun ← direccion ← dīrēctiō ← dīrigō
  • address ← adressen ← adrecier ← drecier ← *dīrēctiāre
  • direct ← dīrēctus ← dīrigō ← regō ← *regō
  • rich ← riche ← rīċe ← *rīkī ← *rīkijaz
  • royal ← roial ← rēgālis ← rēx ← *rēks

134 more relatives in the full family tree

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Another origin of rank

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*hringaz‘something bent or curved’reconstructed
  2. Frankishc. 250–700*hring‘ring’reconstructed
  3. Old Frenchc. 842–1400ranc‘line, row, rank’
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500rank‘line, row’
  5. Englishtodayrank

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Today it means

adj Strong in growth; growing with vigour or rapidity, hence, coarse or gross.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “rank”. 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-Germanic *hringaz / rank