raze

See also: raže, rażę, ráze, and ráže

English

WOTD – 8 January 2016

Pronunciation

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

• Audio (GA)

  (file)

• Audio (AU)

  (file)

• Homophones: raise, rase, rays, rehs, réis, res
• 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 destroy; to strike out of existence; to obliterate.
   • 1887, H. Rider Haggard, She: A History of Adventure‎^[2]:

     We both loved her now and for all time, she was stamped and carven on our hearts, and no other woman or interest could ever raze that splendid die.

3. (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, assolo
• 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