ray

See also: Ray, rày, rây, rầy, ra'y, and -raþ

English

Rays from the sun (1)

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, General American) enPR: rā, IPA^(key): /ɹeɪ/

• Audio (General American):

  (file)

• Homophones: Rae, Ray, re (one pronunciation), Re, Rea, Rhea (one pronunciation)
• Rhymes: -eɪ

Etymology 1

Via Middle English, borrowed from Old French rai, from Latin radius (“staff, stake, spoke”). Doublet of radius.

Noun

ray (plural rays)

1. A beam of light or radiation.

   I saw a ray of light through the clouds.

   • 1922, E[ric] R[ücker] Eddison, The Worm Ouroboros‎^[1], London: Jonathan Cape, page 5:

     Strangely light and delicate was his frame and seeming, yet with a sense of slumbering power beneath, as the delicate peak of a snow mountain seen afar in the low red rays of morning.

2. (zoology) A rib-like reinforcement of bone or cartilage in a fish's fin.
3. (zoology) One of the spheromeres of a radiate, especially one of the arms of a starfish or an ophiuran.
4. (botany) A radiating part of a flower or plant; the marginal florets of a compound flower, such as an aster or a sunflower; one of the pedicels of an umbel or other circular flower cluster; radius.
5. (obsolete) Sight; perception; vision; from an old theory of vision, that sight was something which proceeded from the eye to the object seen.
   • 1728, [Alexander Pope], “(please specify the page)”, in The Dunciad. An Heroic Poem. […], Dublin, London: […] A. Dodd, →OCLC:

     All eyes direct their rays / On him, and crowds turn coxcombs as they gaze.

6. (mathematics) A line extending indefinitely in one direction from a point.

Hyponyms

• beta ray
• cathode ray
• death ray
• delta ray
• derma ray
• gamma ray
• grenz ray
• N-ray
• Roentgen-ray
• T-ray
• X-ray

Derived terms

• alpha ray
• anticrepuscular ray
• Becquerel calorific ray
• Becquerel ray
• Blu-ray
• calorific ray
• catch some rays
• cosmic ray
• crepuscular ray
• distributed ray tracing
• extraordinary ray
• god ray
• grocery shrink ray
• Gurwitsch ray
• half-ray
• heat-ray
• Lenard ray
• lightray
• medullary ray
• meridional ray
• mitogenetic ray
• number ray
• ray casting
• ray floret
• ray grass
• ray gun
• raying room
• rayless
• raylet
• raylike
• ray marching
• ray of hope
• ray of light
• ray of sunshine
• ray tracer
• ray tracing
• repulsor ray
• starry ray
• X-ray

Translations

beam of light or radiation

• Albanian: rreze (sq) f
• Arabic: شُعَاع m (šuʕāʕ)
• Armenian: ճառագայթ (hy) (čaṙagaytʻ), ճաճանչ (hy) (čačančʻ), շող (hy) (šoġ)
• Aromanian: aradzã f, radzã f
• Azerbaijani: şüa (az)
• Bashkir: нур (nur)
• Belarusian: праме́нь m (pramjénʹ)
• Bengali: রশ্মি (bn) (rośmi)
• Berber:

  Tashelhit: aẓnẓar m

• Bulgarian: лъч (bg) m (lǎč)
• Burmese: အလင်းတန်း (my) (a.lang:tan:), ရောင်ခြည် (my) (raunghkrany), ခြည် (my) (hkrany)
• Catalan: raig (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 射線 / 射线 (zh) (shèxiàn), 光線 / 光线 (zh) (guāngxiàn)

• Czech: paprsek (cs) m
• Dalmatian: rus m
• Danish: stråle c
• Dutch: straal (nl) f
• Egyptian: (stwt f pl)
• Esperanto: radio (eo), radiuso, raio
• Estonian: kiir (et)
• Finnish: säde (fi)
• French: rayon (fr) m
• Friulian: rai
• Galician: raio (gl) m
• Georgian: შუქი (šuki)
• German: Strahl (de) m
• Greek: ακτίνα (el) f (aktína)

  Ancient: ἀκτίς f (aktís)

• Hebrew: קֶרֶן (he) f (kéren)
• Hindi: किरण (hi) f (kiraṇ), रश्मि (hi) (raśmi)
• Hungarian: sugár (hu)
• Icelandic: geisli (is) m
• Indonesian: sinar (id)
• Irish: ga m
• Italian: raggio (it) m, filo (it) m
• Japanese: 光線 (ja) (こうせん, kōsen)
• Javanese: sorot
• Kapampangan: simbul (specifically from a stellar object)
• Kazakh: сәуле (säule), нұр (nūr)
• Khmer: រស្មី (km) (rĕəʼsməy)
• Korean: 광선(光線) (ko) (gwangseon)
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: تشک (tişk)

  Northern Kurdish: tîroj (ku) f

• Kyrgyz: нур (ky) (nur), шоола (ky) (şoola)
• Lao: ແສງ (lo) (sǣng)
• Latgalian: spaits
• Latin: radius m
• Latvian: stars (lv) m
• Lithuanian: spindulys
• Luxembourgish: Stral
• Macedonian: зрак (mk) m (zrak)
• Malay: sinaran (ms)
• Maltese: raġġ m
• Maori: ihi, pūhihi, wana, hihi
• Mongolian: туяа (mn) (tujaa)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: stråle (no) m

  Nynorsk: stråle m

• Occitan: rai (oc)
• Old Church Slavonic:

  Cyrillic: лоуча f (luča)

• Old East Slavic: лучь m (lučĭ)
• Old English: sċīma m
• Pashto: شعاع f (šo'ã), پلوشه (ps) f (palwaša), څريکه f (críka) (of sun)
• Persian: پرتو (fa) (partow), فروغ (fa) (foruğ), برازه (barâze)
• Polish: promień (pl) m
• Portuguese: raio (pt) m
• Punjabi: ਕਿਰਨ f (kiran)
• Romanian: rază (ro) f
• Russian: луч (ru) m (luč), излуче́ние (ru) n (izlučénije)
• Sanskrit: रश्मि (sa) m or f (raśmi)
• Sardinian: ragiu m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: зрака f, зрак m

  Roman: zrȁka (sh) f, zrȃk (sh) m

• Slovak: lúč m
• Slovene: žarek (sl) m
• Spanish: rayo (es) m
• Swahili: kianga, mwale
• Swedish: stråle (sv) c
• Tagalog: ligos (sun)
• Tajik: шуоъ (šuoʾ), нур (tg) (nur)
• Telugu: కిరణము (te) (kiraṇamu)
• Thai: แสง (th) (sɛ̌ɛng), รังสี (th) (rang-sǐi)
• Tocharian B: swāñco
• Turkish: ışın (tr), hüzme (tr), şua (tr) (archaic)
• Turkmen: şöhle, nur
• Ukrainian: про́мінь (uk) m (próminʹ)
• Urdu: کرن f (kiran)
• Uyghur: نۇر (ug) (nur), شولا (shola)
• Uzbek: nur (uz), shula
• Venetan: rajo
• Vietnamese: tia (vi)
• Walloon: rai (wa) m, rayeye (wa) f
• Welsh: pelydr m
• Yiddish: שטראַל m (shtral)

reinforcing in a fish's fin

• Bulgarian: шип (bg) m (šip)
• Finnish: piikki (fi) (bone), ruoto (fi) (cartilage)

mathematics: line extending indefinitely in one direction from a point

• Armenian: ճառագայթ (hy) (čaṙagaytʻ)
• Bulgarian: лъч (bg) m (lǎč)
• Catalan: semirecta
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 射线 (zh) (shèxiàn)

• Czech: polopřímka f
• Danish: stråle c
• Dutch: straal (nl) f
• Esperanto: radio (eo), radiuso, raio
• Finnish: säde (fi), puolisuora (fi)
• French: demi-droite (fr)
• German: Strahl (de) m, Halbgerade (de) f
• Greek: ημιευθεία (imieftheía)
• Hebrew: קֶרֶן (he) f (kéren)
• Hungarian: félegyenes (hu)
• Italian: raggio (it) m, semiretta (it) f
• Latvian: stars (lv) m
• Persian: نیم‌خط (nim-xat)
• Polish: promień (pl) m, półprosta (pl) f
• Portuguese: raio (pt) m
• Romanian: semidreaptă (ro) f
• Russian: луч (ru) m (luč), полупряма́я (ru) f (poluprjamája)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: полуправац m

  Roman: pȍlupravac (sh) m

• Slovak: polpriamka f
• Spanish: semirrecta (es) f
• Swedish: stråle (sv) c
• Tagalog: sinag
• Telugu: రేఖ (te) (rēkha)
• Thai: รังสี (th) (rang-sǐi)
• Turkish: ışın (tr)
• Ukrainian: про́мінь (uk) m (próminʹ)
• Urdu: شعاع f (śuā)
• Vietnamese: tia (vi)

Verb

ray (third-person singular simple present rays, present participle raying, simple past and past participle rayed)

1. (transitive) To emit something as if in rays.
   • 1889, Robert Browning, letter to Dr. Furnivall:

     I had no particular woman in my mind; certainly never intended to personify wisdom, philosophy, or any other abstraction; and the orb, raying colour out of whiteness, was altogether a fancy of my own.

2. (intransitive) To radiate as if in rays.
3. (transitive) To expose to radiation.
   • 1928, Archives of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, page 219:

     Rats' eyes with ulcus serpens were successfully treated; one second of raying stopped the progress of the ulcer, which healed uninterruptedly.

Translations

to emit something as if in rays, to radiate as if in rays

• Bulgarian: излъчвам (bg) (izlǎčvam)
• Esperanto: raii
• Malay: sinar (ms), menyinar, bersinar
• Maori: whakawanawana
• Serbo-Croatian: zráčiti (sh)
• Turkish: ışımak (tr)

Etymology 2

From Middle English raye, rayȝe, from Old French raie, from Latin raia, of uncertain origin. Compare Middle English reyhhe, reihe, reȝge (“ray, skate”), from Old English reohhe (“ray”).

Noun

ray (plural rays)

2. Any of the superorder Batoidea of marine fish with flat bodies, large wing-like fins, and whip-like tails.

Derived terms

• bat ray
• butterfly ray
• cownose ray
• devil ray
• eagle ray
• electric ray
• manta ray
• ray-finned
• shark ray
• spinal butterfly ray
• spotted eagle ray
• stingray

Translations

marine fish with a flat body, large wing-like fins, and a whip-like tail

• Aklanon: pagi
• Arabic: شِفْنِين m (šifnīn)
• Armenian: կատվաձուկ (hy) (katvajuk)
• Asturian: raya (ast)
• Basque: arraia
• Belarusian: скат m (skat)
• Bulgarian: скат (bg) m (skat)
• Burmese: လိပ်ကျောက် (my) (lipkyauk)
• Catalan: rajada (ca) f
• Cebuano: pagi
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 魔鬼魚 / 魔鬼鱼 (mo¹ gwai² jyu^4-2)

  Mandarin: 鱝 / 鲼 (zh) (fèn), 鰩 / 鳐 (zh) (yáo), 魟魚 / 𫚉鱼 (zh) (hóngyú)

• Czech: rejnok (cs) m
• Danish: rokke
• Dhivehi: މަޑި (maḍi)
• Dutch: rog (nl) m
• Esperanto: rajo
• Finnish: rausku (fi)
• French: raie (fr) f
• Georgian: სკაროსი (sḳarosi)
• German: Rochen (de) m
• Greek: σαλάχι (el) n (saláchi), νάρκη (el) f (nárki), μουδιάστρα f (moudiástra)

  Ancient: βατίς f (batís)

• Greenlandic: allernaq, tarraleqisaaq
• Hungarian: rája (hu)
• Icelandic: skata f
• Indonesian: pari (id)
• Irish: roc m
• Italian: razza (it) f
• Japanese: 鱝 (ja) (えい, ei), 鱏 (ja) (えい, ei), エイ (ja) (ei)
• Javanese: pe
• Kalmyk: шувтру (şuvtru)
• Kannada: ತೊರಕೆ (torake)
• Kapampangan: pagi
• Korean: 가오리 (ko) (gaori), 홍어 (ko) (hong'eo)
• Latin: raia f
• Latvian: raja f
• Macedonian: ража f (raža)
• Malay: pari
• Malayalam: തിരണ്ടി (ml) (tiraṇṭi)
• Maori: whai
• Minangkabau: pari (min)
• Norman: cârrée f, raie f, fliée f
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: rokke m or f

  Nynorsk: rokke f

• Ottoman Turkish: كدی بالغی (kedi balığı), طرپانه (tırpana)
• Polish: płaszczka (pl) f
• Portuguese: arraia (pt) f, raia (pt) f
• Russian: скат (ru) m (skat)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: ража f

  Roman: raža (sh) f

• Slovak: raja f
• Sorbian:

  Lower Sorbian: rochon m

• Spanish: raya (es) f
• Swedish: rocka (sv) c
• Tagalog: page (tl)
• Tamil: திருக்கை (ta) (tirukkai)
• Tausug: pagi
• Telugu: టెంకి (te) (ṭeṅki)
• Thai: กระเบน (th) (grà-been)
• Turkish: vatoz (tr)
• Ukrainian: скат m (skat)
• Vietnamese: cá đuối (vi)
• Welsh: morgath (cy) f, cath fôr (cy) f
• Wolof: umbulaan wi

Etymology 3

Shortened from array.

Verb

ray (third-person singular simple present rays, present participle raying, simple past and past participle rayed)

1. (obsolete) To arrange. [14th–18th c.]
2. (now rare) To dress, array (someone). [from 14th c.]
3. (obsolete) To stain or soil; to defile. [16th–19th c.]
   • 1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book VI, Canto IV”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:

     From his soft eyes the teares he wypt away, / And from his face the filth that did it ray […] .

Noun

ray (uncountable)

1. (obsolete) Array; order; arrangement; dress.
   • 1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book V, Canto II”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 50:

     spoyling all her geares and goodly ray

Etymology 4

From its sound, by analogy with the letters chay, jay, gay, kay, which it resembles graphically.

Noun

ray (plural rays)

1. The letter ⟨/⟩, one of two which represent the r sound in Pitman shorthand.

Related terms

• ar, in Latin and the name of the other Pitman r

Etymology 5

Alternative forms.

Noun

ray (plural rays)

1. (music) Alternative form of re

See also

• ray-woon (etymologically unrelated)

Anagrams

• -ary, Ary, Ayr, RYA, ary, ayr, rya, yar

Ainu

Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɾaj/

Verb

ray (Kana spelling ラィ)

1. (intransitive) to die

Derived terms

• rayke (“to kill”)

Bikol Central

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɾaj/ [ˈɾaɪ̯]

Noun

ráy (Basahan spelling ᜍᜌ᜔)

1. Alternative form of rahay

Buhi'non Bikol

Noun

ray

1. good

Derived terms

• maray

Northern Kurdish

Etymology

From Arabic رَأْي (raʔy).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /rɑːj/

Noun

ray ?

1. opinion

Turkish

Etymology

From Ottoman Turkish رای, from French rail.

Pronunciation

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

ray (definite accusative rayı, plural raylar)

1. rail

Declension

Declension of ray

singular plural nominative ray raylar definite accusative rayı rayları dative raya raylara locative rayda raylarda ablative raydan raylardan genitive rayın rayların Possessive forms nominative singular plural 1st singular rayım raylarım 2nd singular rayın rayların 3rd singular rayı rayları 1st plural rayımız raylarımız 2nd plural rayınız raylarınız 3rd plural rayları rayları definite accusative singular plural 1st singular rayımı raylarımı 2nd singular rayını raylarını 3rd singular rayını raylarını 1st plural rayımızı raylarımızı 2nd plural rayınızı raylarınızı 3rd plural raylarını raylarını dative singular plural 1st singular rayıma raylarıma 2nd singular rayına raylarına 3rd singular rayına raylarına 1st plural rayımıza raylarımıza 2nd plural rayınıza raylarınıza 3rd plural raylarına raylarına locative singular plural 1st singular rayımda raylarımda 2nd singular rayında raylarında 3rd singular rayında raylarında 1st plural rayımızda raylarımızda 2nd plural rayınızda raylarınızda 3rd plural raylarında raylarında ablative singular plural 1st singular rayımdan raylarımdan 2nd singular rayından raylarından 3rd singular rayından raylarından 1st plural rayımızdan raylarımızdan 2nd plural rayınızdan raylarınızdan 3rd plural raylarından raylarından genitive singular plural 1st singular rayımın raylarımın 2nd singular rayının raylarının 3rd singular rayının raylarının 1st plural rayımızın raylarımızın 2nd plural rayınızın raylarınızın 3rd plural raylarının raylarının Predicative forms singular plural 1st singular rayım raylarım 2nd singular raysın raylarsın 3rd singular ray raydır raylar raylardır 1st plural rayız raylarız 2nd plural raysınız raylarsınız 3rd plural raylar raylardır

References

• Avery, Robert et al., editors (2013), The Redhouse Dictionary Turkish/Ottoman English, 21st edition, Istanbul: Sev Yayıncılık, →ISBN