Etymograph

English

razee

Razee comes from French raser ‘to rase, to cut down ships’, from Old French raser ‘to shave’, and ultimately from Latin rāsus.

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CErāsus
  2. Vulgar Latinc. 100–700 CE*rāsāre‘shave’reconstructed
  3. Old Frenchc. 842–1400raser‘to shave’
  4. Frenchc. 1600–presentsame form‘to rase, to cut down ships’
  5. French, derivedc. 1600–presentvaisseau rasé
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1838razee

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Earlier history not traced here.

Lineage

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CErāsus
  2. Vulgar Latinc. 100–700 CE*rāsāre‘shave’reconstructed
  3. Old Frenchc. 842–1400raser‘to shave’
  4. Frenchc. 1600–presentsame form‘to rase, to cut down ships’
  5. French, derivedc. 1600–presentvaisseau rasé
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1838razee

Earliest quotation: 1838, Edmund Fanning: “an old line-of-battle ship, (21 years of age,) cut…”

Linked words

through Latin rāsus

race, rash, 3 more

through Old French raser ‘to shave’

razor, 1 more

Today it means

noun An armed ship with its upper deck cut away, and thus reduced to the next inferior rate, such as a seventy-four cut down to a frigate.

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

Etymograph / Latin rāsus / razee

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