Meaning and Origin
What does the name Rye mean? Keep reading to find the user submitted meanings, dictionary definitions, and more.
Origin and Meaning of Rye
User Submitted Origins
English
73%
Welsh
9%
Irish
9%
Indian (Sanskrit)
9%
International Interest
Also see international interest
Webster's Unabridged Dictionary
noun Rye
Senses
- [Bot] A grain yielded by a hardy cereal grass (Secale cereale), closely allied to wheat; also, the plant itself. Rye constitutes a large portion of the breadstuff used by man.
- A disease in a hawk.
Etymology: OE. rie reie, AS. ryge; akin to Icel. rugr, Sw. råg, Dan. rug, D. rogge, OHG. rocco roggo, G. rocken roggen, Lith. rugei, Russ. roje, and perh. to Gr. 'o`ryza rice. Cf. Rice
Other Dictionary Sources
- Whiskey distilled from rye or rye and malt
- Hardy annual cereal grass widely cultivated in northern Europe where its grain is the chief ingredient of black bread and in North America for forage and soil improvement
- The seed of the cereal grass
Wiktionary
From Middle English, from Old English ryġe, from Proto-Germanic *rugiz, from Proto-Indo-European *wrugʰyo-. Germanic cognates include Dutch and West Frisian rogge, Low German Rogg, German Roggen, Old Norse rugr (Danish rug, Swedish råg); non-Germanic cognates include Russian рожь (rožʹ) and Latvian rudzi.
- A grain used extensively in Europe for making bread, beer, and (now generally) for animal fodder. [from 8th c.]
- The grass Secale cereale from which the grain is obtained. [from 14th c.]
- Rye bread. [from 19th c.]
- (US, Canada) Rye whiskey. [from 19th c.]
- Caraway (from the mistaken assumption that the whole seeds, often used to season rye bread, are the rye itself)
- Ryegrass, any of the species of Lolium.
- A disease of hawks.