Rye

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ɹaɪ/
• Rhymes: -aɪ
• Homophones: wry

Origin

From Old English ryġe, from Proto-Germanic *rugiz. Cognates include Germanic Old Norse rugr (Danish rug, Swedish råg), German Roggen, Dutch rogge and from non-Germanic Indo-European Russian рожь and Old Prussian rugis.

Full definition of rye

Noun

1. A grain used extensively in Europe for making bread, beer, and (now generally) for animal fodder. from 8th c.
2. The grass from which the grain is obtained. from 14th c.
3. Rye bread. from 19th c.
4. (US, Canada) Rye whisky. from 19th c.
• 1939, Raymond Chandler, The Big Sleep, Penguin 2011, p. 159:I bought a pint of rye at the liquor counter and carried it over to the stools and set it down on the cracked marble counter.
5. Caraway (from the mistaken assumption that the whole seeds, often used to season rye bread, are the rye itself)
6. Ryegrass, any of the species of Lolium.
7. A disease of hawks.

Derived terms

• ryegrass

Anagrams

• yer, yre