raven

See also: Raven and räven

English

Etymology 1

A raven (bird).

Wikispecies From Middle English raven, reven, from Old English hræfn, from Proto-Germanic *hrabnaz (compare Icelandic hrafn, Dutch raaf, German Rabe, Danish and Norwegian Bokmål ravn, Norwegian Nynorsk ramn), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱorh₂- (compare Middle Irish crú, Latin corvus, Lithuanian šárka (“magpie”), Serbo-Croatian svrȁka ‘id.’, Ancient Greek κόραξ (kórax)), from *ḱer-, *ḱor- (compare Latin crepō ‘I creak, crack’, Sanskrit कृपते (kṛpate) ("he laments", "he implores").

Pronunciation

• enPR: rāʹvən, IPA^(key): /ˈɹeɪvən/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪvən

Noun

raven (plural ravens)

1. A common name for several, generally large and lustrous black species of birds in the genus Corvus, especially the common raven, Corvus corax.
   • c. 1588–1593, [William Shakespeare], The Most Lamentable Romaine Tragedie of Titus Andronicus: As It was Plaide by the Right Honourable the Earle of Darbie, Earle of Pembrooke, and Earle of Sussex Their Seruants (the First Quarto), London: Printed by Iohn Danter, and are to be sold by Edward White & Thomas Millington, at the little North doore of Paules at the signe of the Gunne, published 1594, OCLC 222241046, [Act II, scene iii]:

     Some ſay that Rauens foſter forlorne children, / The whilſt their owne birds famiſh in their neſts: / Oh be to me though thy hard hart ſay no, / Nothing ſo kinde but ſomething pittiful.

Derived terms

• Australian raven (Corvus coronoides)
• brown-necked raven (Corvus ruficollis)
• Chatham raven (Corvus moriorum)
• Chihuahuan raven (Corvus cryptoleucus)
• common raven (Corvus corax)
• dwarf raven (Corvus edithae)
• fan-tailed raven (Corvus rhipidurus)
• forest raven (Corvus tasmanicus)
• little raven (Corvus mellori)
• New Zealand raven (Corvus antipodum)
• northern raven (Corvus corax)
• pied raven
• relict raven (Corvus tasmanicus boreus)
• Somali raven (Corvus edithae)
• Tasmanian raven (Corvus tasmanicus)
• thick-billed raven (Corvus crassirostris)
• western raven (Corvus corax sinuatus)
• white-necked raven (Corvus albicollis)

Translations

bird

• Adyghe: къолэжъ (qolăẑ), цунды (c°ndə)
• Afrikaans: kraai (af)
• Albanian: korb (sq) m
• Arabic: غُرَاب‏‎ m (ḡurāb), زَاغ‏‎ m (zāḡ)
• Armenian: ագռավ (hy) (agṙav)
• Aromanian: corbu m
• Asturian: cuervu m
• Avar: чӏегӏергъеду (č̣eʿerġedu), нухъа (nuq̄a)
• Bashkir: ҡоҙғон (qoðğon)
• Basque: erroi (eu)
• Belarusian: крумка́ч m (krumkáč), во́ран m (vóran)
• Breton: marc'hvran (br) m
• Bulgarian: га́рван (bg) m (gárvan)
• Catalan: corb (ca) m
• Chechen: хьаргӏа (ḥarġa)
• Chichewa: khungubwi
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 烏鴉 (zh), 乌鸦 (zh) (wūyā), 渡鴉 (zh), 渡鸦 (zh) (dùyā)

• Cornish: bran vras f
• Czech: krkavec (cs) m
• Danish: ravn (da) c
• Dutch: raaf (nl) m
• Esperanto: korvo (eo), korako (eo)
• Estonian: kaaren, ronk (et), korp
• Ewe: akpaviã
• Faroese: ravnur (fo) m, krunkur m, gorpur m
• Finnish: korppi (fi)
• French: grand corbeau (fr) m
• Friulian: corvat m
• Galician: corvo carnazal (gl) m
• Georgian: ყორანი (q̇orani)
• German: Rabe (de) m, Kolkrabe (de) m
• Greek: κόρακας (el) m (kórakas), κοράκι (el) n (koráki)

  Ancient: κόραξ (kórax)

• Hebrew: עורב‏‎ (he) ('orév), עורב שחור‏‎ m ('orév shakhór)
• Hungarian: holló (hu)
• Icelandic: hrafn (is) m
• Inari Sami: káránâs
• Indonesian: gagak besar
• Ingrian: korppi
• Ingush: хьаргӏа (ḥarġa)
• Irish: fiach m, fiach dubh m

  Old Irish: bran m, fïach m, trogan m

• Italian: corvo imperiale m
• Japanese: 渡り鴉 (ワタリガラス, watarigarasu), 大鴉 (オオガラス, ōgarasu)
• Kabardian: вынд (vənd)
• Kannada: ಕಾರ್ಗೊರಲಕಾಗೆ (kārgoralakāge)
• Korean: 큰까마귀 (keunkkamagwi)
• Kurdish:

  Sorani: داڵ‏‎ (ku)

• Kyrgyz: карга (ky) (karga)
• Ladin: corf ?
• Latgalian: krauklis m
• Latin: corvus m
• Latvian: krauklis ?
• Lithuanian: kranklys (lt) m
• Lojban: korvo
• Low German:

  German Low German: Raav (nds) f, Roov (nds) f, Raw m

• Lule Sami: runnka, gárránis, gárjjá
• Luxembourgish: Ramm f
• Macedonian: га́вран m (gávran)
• Maltese: għarab m
• Mansi: хулах (χulaχ)
• Manx: feeagh m, feeagh mooar m
• Maore Comorian: kwai class 5/6
• Marathi: डोमेकाव्ळा (dome-kāvllā)
• Mi'kmaq: gjiga'qaquj anim
• Mongolian: хар хэрээ (har heree)
• Montagnais: kakatshu
• Nahuatl: cacalotl (nah)
• Navajo: zhį́ʼii
• Northern Sami: gáranas, bulddogas, garjá
• Norwegian: ravn (no) m
• Occitan: còrb (oc) m
• Old Church Slavonic: вранъ m (vranŭ)
• Old Norse: hrafn m, korpr m
• Old Turkic: 𐰴𐰆𐰕𐰍𐰆𐰣‏‎ (quzɣun)
• Ottoman Turkish: قوزغون‏‎ (kuzgun)
• Persian: زاغ‏‎ (fa) (zâğ), کلاغ‏‎ (fa) (kalâğ), غراب‏‎ (fa) (ğorâb)
• Polish: kruk (pl) m anim
• Portuguese: corvo (pt) m
• Proto-Norse: ᚺᚨᚱᚨᛒᚨᚾᚨᛉ ? (harabanaz)
• Romani: kakarachi m, kakarachka f
• Romanian: corb (ro) m
• Romansch: corv grond m
• Russian: во́рон (ru) m (vóron)
• Sardinian: corbu ?, crobu m, corvu ?, colbu ?, colvu ?
• Scots: corbie
• Scottish Gaelic: fitheach m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: гавран f

  Roman: gavran (sh) f

• Sicilian: corvu (scn) m, corbu (scn) m
• Skolt Sami: käärnõs
• Slovak: havran (sk) m, krkavec m
• Slovene: krokar (sl) m, vran (sl) m (poetic)
• Sorbian:

  Lower Sorbian: wron m, grampak m

  Upper Sorbian: rapak m

• Southern Sami: gaarenasse, krungke
• Spanish: cuervo grande m
• Swahili: kunguru (sw) class 9/10
• Swedish: korp (sv) c
• Tajik: зоғ (tg) (zoġ)
• Tlingit: yéil
• Turkish: kuzgun (tr)
• Ukrainian: во́рон m (vóron), крук m (kruk)
• Unami: winkeòhkwèt
• Uzbek: kuzg'un
• Venetian: corvo m, corf m
• Vilamovian: rōw f
• Volapük: rab (vo)
• Votic: ronka
• Welsh: cigfran f
• West Frisian: raven c
• Yiddish: ראָב‏‎ (rob)

Adjective

raven (not comparable)

1. Of the color of the raven; jet-black

   raven curls

   raven darkness

   She was a tall, sophisticated, raven-haired beauty.

Derived terms

terms derived from raven

• nonraven
• raven-black
• raven-haired
• ravenhood

• raven standard

Translations

of the color of the raven; jet-black

• Dutch: ravenzwart
• Esperanto: korva (eo)
• French: noir corbeau
• German: rabenschwarz
• Greek: κορακίσιος (korakísios), κορακί (korakí)
• Hungarian: hollófekete (hu)

• Italian: corvino (it)
• Norwegian: ravnsort, ravnsvart
• Romanian: corbiu (ro)
• Swedish: korpsvart, ramsvart (sv)
• Volapük: rabablägik

Etymology 2

From Old French raviner (“rush, seize by force”), itself from ravine (“rapine”), from Latin rapina (“plundering, loot”), itself from rapere (“seize, plunder, abduct”).

Pronunciation

• enPR: răvʹən, IPA^(key): /ˈɹævən/
• Rhymes: -ævən

Alternative forms

• ravin, ravine

Noun

raven (plural ravens)

1. Rapine; rapacity.
2. Prey; plunder; food obtained by violence.

Translations

rapine; rapacity

• Portuguese: rapina (pt) f, voraz (pt) m, f

• Romanian: rapacitate (ro) f

prey; plunder; food obtained by violence

• German: Beute (de) f

• Romanian: pradă (ro) f

Verb

raven (third-person singular simple present ravens, present participle ravening, simple past and past participle ravened)

1. (transitive, archaic) To obtain or seize by violence.
2. (transitive) To devour with great eagerness.
3. (transitive) To prey on with rapacity.

   The raven is both a scavenger, who ravens a dead animal almost like a vulture, and a bird of prey, who commonly ravens to catch a rodent.

4. (intransitive) To show rapacity; to be greedy (for something).
   • 1587, Leonard Mascall, The First Booke of Cattell, London, “The nature and qualities of hogges, and also the gouernement thereof,”^[1]

     […] because hogs are commonly rauening for their meat, more then other cattel, it is meet therefore to haue them ringed, or else they wil doe much hurt in digging and turning vp corne fieldes […]

   • 1852, Elizabeth Gaskell, “The Old Nurse’s Story” in The Old Nurse’s Story and Other Tales,^[2]

     They passed along towards the great hall-door, where the winds howled and ravened for their prey […]

   • 1865, Sabine Baring-Gould, The Book of Were-Wolves, London: Smith, Elder & Co., Chapter 8, p. 114,^[3]

     The Greek were-wolf is closely related to the vampire. The lycanthropist falls into a cataleptic trance, during which his soul leaves his body, enters that of a wolf and ravens for blood.

   • 1931, James B. Fagan, The Improper Duchess, London: Victor Gollancz, 1932, Act 3, p. 237,^[4]

     On one side the great temple where you can gather the good harvest—on the other a dirty little scandal that you’ve nosed out to fling to paper scavengers who feed it to their readin’ millions ravening for pornographic dirt.

Related terms

• ravener
• ravening
• ravenous, ravenously, ravenousness

References

• Webster's Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary, Springfield, Massachusetts, G.&C. Merriam Co., 1967
• “raven” in Douglas Harper, Online Etymology Dictionary, 2001–2017. [5]

Anagrams

• Verna

---

Dutch

Etymology 1

Borrowed from English rave.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈreːvə(n)/

Verb

raven

1. to (hold a) rave, to party wildly

Inflection

Inflection of raven (weak)
infinitive	raven
past singular	ravede
past participle	geraved
infinitive	raven
gerund	raven n
verbal noun	—
	present tense	past tense
1st person singular	rave	ravede
2nd person sing. (jij)	ravet	ravede
2nd person sing. (u)	ravet	ravede
2nd person sing. (gij)	ravet	ravede
3rd person singular	ravet	ravede
plural	raven	raveden
subjunctive sing.1	rave	ravede
subjunctive plur.1	raven	raveden
imperative sing.	rave
imperative plur.1	ravet
participles	ravend	geraved
1) Archaic.

Etymology 2

Non-lemma forms.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈraːvə(n)/

• Audio

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aːvən

Noun

raven

1. Plural form of raaf

Anagrams

• ervan, varen

---

Middle Dutch

Etymology

From Old Dutch *ravan, from Proto-Germanic *hrabnaz.

Noun

rāven m

1. raven

Inflection

This noun needs an inflection-table template.

Alternative forms

• rave

Descendants

• Dutch: raaf
• Limburgish: raof

Further reading

• “raven”, in Vroegmiddelnederlands Woordenboek, 2000
• “raven”, in Middelnederlandsch Woordenboek, 1929

---

Slovene

Etymology

See Serbo-Croatian ravan

Alternative forms

• raván (archaic)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈràːʋən/
• Tonal orthography: rávən

Adjective

ráven (comparative rávnejši, superlative nàjrávnejši)

1. even, level

Declension

Declension of ráven (hard)

singular
	masculine	feminine	neuter
nominative	ráven ind rávni def	rávna	rávno
accusative	nominativeinan or genitiveanim	rávno	rávno
genitive	rávnega	rávne	rávnega
dative	rávnemu	rávni	rávnemu
locative	rávnem	rávni	rávnem
instrumental	rávnim	rávno	rávnim
dual
	masculine	feminine	neuter
nominative	rávna	rávni	rávni
accusative	rávna	rávni	rávni
genitive	rávnih	rávnih	rávnih
dative	rávnima	rávnima	rávnima
locative	rávnih	rávnih	rávnih
instrumental	rávnima	rávnima	rávnima
plural
	masculine	feminine	neuter
nominative	rávni	rávne	rávna
accusative	rávne	rávne	rávna
genitive	rávnih	rávnih	rávnih
dative	rávnim	rávnim	rávnim
locative	rávnih	rávnih	rávnih
instrumental	rávnimi	rávnimi	rávnimi