rake

C2+ Topic:Gardening & Horticulture

US /reɪk/ UK /reɪk/ See IPA manual

Minimal pairs

Sounds like lake /l/ vs /r/ Sounds like laik /l/ vs /r/

Meanings

1

noun
a toothed tool for gathering leaves or smoothing soil

He used a rake to clear the lawn of leaves.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 noun · a toothed tool for... hoe harrow scrape comb gather

Word family

Derived forms rakerraking

Simplified etymology

Rake, the garden tool, is an Old English word from a root meaning “heap up.” Rake for an immoral man has a separate history: it is a shortened form of sixteenth-century rakehell, originally imagining a sinner who might be raked out of hell.

Etymology

From Old English raca, racu ('rake'), from Proto-Germanic *rakō, from Proto-Indo-European *reǵ- ('to straighten, direct').

raca Old English *rakō Proto-Germanic *reǵ- Proto-Indo-European

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Gardening & Horticulture Tools, Machines & Construction

External links

# rake

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2+
**Part of speech:** noun
**IPA (US):** /reɪk/
**IPA (UK):** /reɪk/

## Meanings
1. a toothed tool for gathering leaves or smoothing soil

## Examples
- He used a rake to clear the lawn of leaves.

## Synonyms
- hoe
- harrow
- scrape
- comb
- gather

## Derived Forms
- raker
- raking

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: raca
- Root: *rakō
- Root: *reǵ-

## Etymology
From Old English raca, racu ('rake'), from Proto-Germanic *rakō, from Proto-Indo-European *reǵ- ('to straighten, direct').

## AI Etymology
Rake comes from Old English raca, racu ('rake'), from Proto-Germanic *rakō, from Proto-Indo-European *reǵ- ('to straighten, direct'). The historical chain includes Old English raca, Proto-Germanic *rakō, and Proto-Indo-European *reǵ-. The quoted older senses, "rake" and "to straighten, direct", supply the semantic anchors for rake. The formation is best read as borrowed: the word rake carries its older form-history into a compact English lexical shape. In present English it is used as a noun, "a toothed tool for gathering leaves or smoothing soil". English derivatives include raker and raking. The result is a noun and verb whose etymology preserves both the older form and the later English specialization.

## Topics
- Gardening & Horticulture
- Tools, Machines & Construction

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