rain

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See also: Rain, ràin, and räin

English

Rain falling

Pronunciation

Etymology 1

From Middle English reyn, rein, from Old English reġn, from Proto-West Germanic *regn, from Proto-Germanic *regną (compare West Frisian rein, Dutch regen, German Regen, Danish and Norwegian regn), of uncertain origin. Possibly from pre-Germanic *Hréǵ-no-, from Proto-Indo-European *Hreǵ- (“to flow”) (compare Latin rigō (“wet, soak”), Lithuanian rõki (“drizzling rain”), Albanian rrjedh (“to flow, drip”)), although the consonant reflexes don't match.

Alternative forms

Noun

rain (usually uncountable, plural rains)

  1. Condensed water falling from a cloud.
    We've been having a lot of rain lately.
    The rains came late that year.
    • 2019, VOA Learning English (public domain)
      This process involves cloud seeding – when various substances are put into clouds in an attempt to cause rain.
      Audio (US)(file)
  2. (figuratively) Any matter moving or falling, usually through air, and especially if liquid or otherwise figuratively identifiable with raindrops.
  3. (figuratively) An instance of particles or larger pieces of matter moving or falling through air.
    A rain of mortar fire fell on our trenches.
Usage notes
Synonyms
Derived terms

Descendants
  • Sranan Tongo: alen
Translations
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Verb

rain (third-person singular simple present rains, present participle raining, simple past and past participle rained)

  1. (impersonal) To have rain fall from the sky.
    Judging by the black cloud, it will rain later today.
  2. (intransitive) To fall as or like rain.
    Tears rained from her eyes.
    Leaves rained from the tree.
    Bombs rained from the sky.
  3. (transitive) To issue (something) in large quantities.
    The boxer rained punches on his opponent's head.
Conjugation
Conjugation of rain
infinitive (to) rain
present tense past tense
1st-person singular rain rained
2nd-person singular rain, rainest† rained, rainedst†
3rd-person singular rains, raineth† rained
plural rain
subjunctive rain rained
imperative rain —
participles raining rained

†Archaic or obsolete.

Derived terms
Translations
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

See also

Etymology 2

Verb

rain (third-person singular simple present rains, present participle raining, simple past and past participle rained)

  1. Obsolete form of reign.

Anagrams

Japanese

Romanization

rain

  1. Rōmaji transcription of ライン

Kavalan

Noun

rain

  1. waves in the open sea

Sera

Noun

rain

  1. water

References

  • Terry Crowley, Claire Bowern, An Introduction to Historical Linguistics (2010, →ISBN, page 333
  • Stephen Adolphe Wurm, New Guinea Area Languages and Language Study (1976)

Sissano

Noun

rain

  1. water

References

  • Stephen Adolphe Wurm, New Guinea Area Languages and Language Study (1976)
  • John Nystrom, Sissano Organised Phonology Data (1992) (as rayn several times in a story; compare ranrayn "wet")

Tetum

Etymology

From the Tetum noun rai.

Noun

rain

  1. country
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