raze

See also: rażę and ráze

English

WOTD – 8 January 2016

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, General American) enPR: rāz, IPA^(key): /ɹeɪz/

• Audio (GA)

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• Audio (AU)

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• Homophones: raise, rase, rays
• Rhymes: -eɪz

Etymology 1

From Middle English rasen, from Old French raser, from Vulgar Latin *rasō, from Latin rāsus (“scraped, shaved”), perfect passive participle of rādō (“scrape, shave”).

Verb

raze (third-person singular simple present razes, present participle razing, simple past and past participle razed)

1. (transitive) To demolish; to level to the ground.
   • 2017 May 13, Barney Ronay, “Antonio Conte’s brilliance has turned Chelsea’s pop-up team into champions”, in The Guardian‎^[1], London:

     Just as significant in the long term, Chelsea were also granted permission this season for their new on-site mega-stadium, a 60,000-seat upgrade that will mean the current Stamford Bridge is razed and replaced by something that looks like a vast alien space yurt made of giant Martian redwood stems.

2. (transitive) To scrape as if with a razor.

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:destroy

Translations

to demolish

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 拆毀 (zh), 拆毁 (zh) (chāihuǐ), 夷為平地 (zh), 夷为平地 (zh) (yíwéipíngdì)

• Danish: rasere
• Finnish: tuhota/hävittää maan tasalle
• Greek:

  Ancient: ἐδαφίζω (edaphízō)

• Icelandic: rífa niður, leggja í rúst, jafna við jörðu
• Ido: rezigar (io)

• Italian: abbattere (it), demolire (it)
• Latin: complānō
• Maori: tāhoro
• Polish: zburzyć (pl)
• Portuguese: demolir (pt), arrasar (pt), aniquilar (pt)
• Russian: разрушать до основания (razrušatʹ do osnovanija)
• Serbo-Croatian: sravniti (sh)
• Spanish: arrasar (es), demoler (es), abatir (es), aniquilar (es)

to scrape as if with a razor

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 剃 (zh),削 (zh)

• Italian: radere al suolo
• Maori: heu
• Portuguese: raspar (pt)

• Russian: выскабливать (ru) (vyskablivatʹ), выскребать (ru) (vyskrebatʹ)
• Spanish: rasurar (es)

Etymology 2

Noun

raze

1. Obsolete spelling of race (rhizome of ginger).

Etymology 3

Noun

raze (plural razes)

1. A swinging fence in a watercourse to prevent cattle passing through.

Further reading

• raze (disambiguation) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• Azer., Ezra, Reza

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Dutch

Verb

raze

1. (archaic) singular present subjunctive of razen

Anagrams

• Ezra

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Friulian

Etymology 1

Uncertain; possibly of South Slavic or substrate origin. Compare Slovene raca, Romanian rață.

Noun

raze f (plural razis)

1. duck

Etymology 2

Compare Italian razza.

Noun

raze f (plural razis)

1. race
2. breed
3. strain