rote

See also Röte, and roté

English

Pronunciation

• (RP) IPA: /ɹəʊt/, SAMPA: /r@Ut/
• (US) IPA: /roʊt/, SAMPA: /roUt/
• Rhymes: -əʊt

Etymology 1

From Middle English, origin uncertain. Likely from the phrase bi (“by”) rote (“heart”), c. 1300. Some have proposed a relationship either with Old French rote/rute (“route”), or Latin rota (“wheel”) (see rotary), but the OED calls both suggestions groundless.

Noun

rote (uncountable)

1. The process of learning or committing something to memory through mechanical repetition, usually by hearing and repeating aloud, often without full attention to comprehension or thought for the meaning.

   They didn’t have copies of the music for everyone, so most of us had to learn the song by rote.

   • 2009, Jim Holt, Got Poetry?

     But memorize them we did, in big painful chunks, by rote repetition.

2. Mechanical routine; a fixed, habitual, repetitive, or mechanical course of procedure.

   The pastoral scenes from those commercials don’t bear too much resemblance to the rote of daily life on a farm.

Usage notes

• Commonly found in the phrase "by rote" and in attributive use: "rote learning", "rote memorization", and so on.
• Often used pejoratively in comparison with "deeper" learning that leads to "understanding".

Derived terms

• rotelike
• rotely

See also

• muscle memory

Translations

process of committing to memory

Chinese: Mandarin: formal trad. 機械學習, simpl. 机械学习 (pinyin: jīxièxuéxí), formal trad. 死記硬背, simpl. 死记硬背 (pinyin: sǐjìyìngbèi), informal trad. 死讀書, simpl. 死读书 (pinyin: sǐdúshū) Dutch: herhaling (nl) f.

French: apprentissage par cœur (fr) m. Japanese: 暗記学習 (ja) (あんきがくしゅう, anki-gakushū) Russian: заучивание (ru) (zaúčivanije) n., заучивание наизусть (ru) (zaúčivanije naizúst') n., зубрёжка (ru) (zubrjóžka) f.

mechanical routine

Dutch: sleur (nl) m.

Adjective

rote (comparative more rote, superlative most rote)

1. By repetition or practice.
   • 2000, Ami Klin; Fred R. Volkmar, Sara S. Sparrow, Asperger syndrome‎, page 316:

     The former may be seen as a more rote form of learning, contrasting with the latter which appears to include "executive" aspects

Etymology 2

c. 1600, from Old Norse rót (“tossing, pitching (of sea)”) n., perhaps related to rauta (“to roar”).

Noun

rote (uncountable)

1. (rare) The roar of the surf; the sound of waves breaking on the shore.

Translations

roar of the surf

Dutch: breken (nl)

Anagrams

• tore

---

French

Verb

rote

1. first-person singular present indicative of roter
2. third-person singular present indicative of roter
3. first-person singular present subjunctive of roter
4. first-person singular present subjunctive of roter
5. second-person singular imperative of roter

Anagrams

• ôter
• tore

---

German

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈʀoːtə/

Adjective

rote

1. strong feminine singular nominative form of rot.
2. strong feminine singular accusative form of rot.
3. strong plural nominative form of rot.
4. strong plural accusative form of rot.
5. weak masculine singular nominative form of rot.
6. weak feminine singular nominative form of rot.
7. weak feminine singular accusative form of rot.
8. weak neuter singular nominative form of rot.
9. weak neuter singular accusative form of rot.
10. mixed feminine singular nominative form of rot.
11. mixed feminine singular accusative form of rot.

---

Norwegian

Etymology

From Old Norse róta.

Verb

rote (present tense roter; past tense rota/rotet; past participle rota/rotet; present participle rotende; imperative rot)

1. to untidy, to make a mess
2. (slang) to fool around (engage in casual or flirtatious sexual acts)

Derived terms

• rotet (or rotete)
• rotehue
• rotekopp

Related terms

• rot

---

Spanish

Verb

rote (infinitive rotar)

1. Formal second-person singular (usted) imperative form of rotar.
2. First-person singular (yo) present subjunctive form of rotar.
3. Formal second-person singular (usted) present subjunctive form of rotar.
4. Third-person singular (él, ella, also used with usted^?) present subjunctive form of rotar.