Roe

Pronunciation

• UK enPR: rō, IPA: /rəʊ/
• US enPR: rō, IPA: /roÊŠ/
• Rhymes: -əʊ
• Homophones: row in some senses only

From Middle English rowe, rowne, roun, rawne, from Old English *hrogn ("spawn, fish eggs, roe"), from Proto-Germanic *hrugnaz, *hrugną ("spawn, roe"), from Proto-Indo-European *krek- ("(frog) spawn"). Cognate with Dutch roge ("roe"), German Low German Rögen ("roe"), German Rogen ("roe"), Danish rogn, ravn ("roe"), Swedish rom ("roe"), Icelandic hrogn ("roe"), Lithuanian kurkulaĩ ("frog spawn"), Russian кряк (kryak, "frog spawn").

Wolfgang Pfeifer, ed., Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Deutschen, s.v. “Rogen” (Munich: Deutscher Taschenbuch Verlag, 2005).

Alternative forms

• roan, rone, roun, rown, rawn, round dialectal
• roughne, roughnes obsolete

Full definition of roe

Noun

1. The eggs of fish.
2. The sperm of certain fish.
3. The ovaries of certain crustaceans.

Synonyms

• (sperm) milt

Derived terms

• hard roe
• soft roe
• white roe

Middle English ro, from Old English rā, fuller rāha, from Proto-Germanic *raihą (compare Saterland Frisian Räi, Dutch ree, German Reh), from *róiko-, from Proto-Indo-European *rei- ("spotted, streaked") (compare Irish riabh ‘stripe, streak’, Latvian ràibs ‘spotted’, Russian рябой (rjabój, "mottled fur").

Noun

1. A small, nimble Eurasian deer, , with short three-pointed antlers, no visible tail, a white rump patch, and a reddish summer coat that turns grey in winter.
2. A mottled appearance of light and shade in wood, especially in mahogany.

Synonyms

• roe deer, chevreuil

Derived terms

• roebuck

Anagrams

• o'er
• ore, Ore., öre, øre