English
rape
Rape comes from Middle English rapen ‘to seize, abduct’, probably from Latin rapiō ‘to seize, snatch’.
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CErapiō1‘to seize, snatch’uncertain
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500rapen1‘to abduct; ravish; seize’
- Englishearliest quotation c. 1588–1593rape1
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
- 1 Wiktionary, English rape
- Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1588–1593, William Shakespeare, The Lamentable Tragedy of Titus Andronicus: “Sat. Traytor, if Rome haue law, or we haue…”.
Lineage
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CErapiōWiktionary, English rape‘to seize, snatch’uncertain
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500rapenWiktionary, English rape‘to abduct; ravish; seize’
- Englishearliest quotation c. 1588–1593rapeWiktionary, English rape. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1588–1593, William Shakespeare, The Lamentable Tragedy of Titus Andronicus: “Sat. Traytor, if Rome haue law, or we haue…”
The story
From Middle English rapen, rappen (‘to abduct; ravish; seduce; rape; seize; snatch; carry off; transport’), probably from Latin rapiō (verb), possibly through or influenced by Anglo-Norman rap, rape (noun) (compare also ravish). But compare Swedish rappa (‘to snatch, seize, carry off’), Low German rapen (‘to snatch, seize’), Dutch rapen (‘to pick up, gather, collect’); the relationship with Germanic forms is not clear. Further, some senses may be from Etymology 3, an Old Norse word.
Word family
English words that share an ancestor with rape, grouped by the ancestor they share, most familiar first.
through Proto-Indo-European *h₁reh₁p- ‘to take away, snatch’
- grave ← greyve ← greifi ← grēve ← grāvio
- repent ← rēpēns ← rēpō ← *rēpō
- reeve ← reve ← rēfa ← *garāfijō ← *ga-
- graf ← grâve ← grāfio ← *garāfijō ← *ga-
- surreptitious ← surrēptīcius ← surrēpō ← rēpō ← *rēpō
through Proto-Italic *rapjō ‘to seize, take away’
- rapidity ← rapidité ← rapiditas ← rapidus ← rapiō
through Latin rapiō ‘to snatch, grab, carry off, abduct, rape, steal’
27 more relatives in the full family tree
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Another origin of rape
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*roypnós‘strap, band, rope’reconstructed
- Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*raipaz‘strip’reconstructed
- Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*raip‘strip, band’reconstructed
- Old Englishc. 450–1150rāp‘rope’
- Englishtodayrape
Generally considered to derive from Old English rāp (‘rope’), in reference to the ropes used to delineate the courts that ruled each rape. In the 18th century, Edward Lye proposed derivation from Old Norse hreppr (‘tract of land’), but this was rejected by the New English Dictionary and is considered "phonologically impossible" by the English Place-Name Society. Others, considering it improbable that the Normans would have adopted a local word, suggest derivation from Old French raper (‘take by force’).
Another origin of rape
- Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*rāpomreconstructed
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CErāpum‘turnip’
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CErāpa
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500rape‘haste’
- Englishtodayrape
Another origin of rape
- Frankishc. 250–700*raspōn‘to scratch’reconstructed
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400raper‘to rasp, scratch’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500rape‘grape stalk, rasper’
- Englishtodayrape
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Today it means
noun The act of forcing sex upon another person without their consent or against their will; originally coitus forced by a man on a woman, but now generally any sex act forced by any person upon another person, regardless of gender; by extension, any non-consensual sex act forced on or perpetrated by any being.
Sources
Sources: Wiktionary, “rape”. 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 / Latin rapiō / rape