Etymograph

English

rale

Rale comes from French râle ‘groan’.

  1. Frenchc. 1600–presentrâle‘groan’
  2. Englishearliest quotation 1840rale

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

  1. Frenchc. 1600–presentrâle‘groan’
  2. Englishearliest quotation 1840rale

Earliest quotation: 1840, CM Billard, A Treatise on the Diseases of Infants: “Michael Colot, aged fifteen days, of a strong constitution,…”

Linked words

through French râle ‘groan’

rail

Today it means

noun An abnormal clicking, rattling or crackling sound, made by one or both lungs and heard with a stethoscope, caused by the popping open of airways collapsed by fluid or exudate, or sometimes by pulmonary edema.

Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.

Etymograph / French râle / rale

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