Etymograph

English

ree

Ree comes from Old English hrēoh ‘rough, fierce, wild, angry, disturbed,…’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *krewh₂- ‘raw meat, fresh blood’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*krewh₂-‘raw meat, fresh blood’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*hreuhaz‘bad, wild’reconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150hrēoh‘rough, fierce, wild, angry, disturbed, troubled, stormy, tempestuous’
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500rei
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1756ree

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*krewh₂-‘raw meat, fresh blood’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*hreuhaz‘bad, wild’reconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150hrēoh‘rough, fierce, wild, angry, disturbed, troubled, stormy, tempestuous’
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500rei
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1756ree

Earliest quotation: 1756, Margaret Calderwood, Mrs Calderwood's Journey: “I saw,", says I, "he was a ree-brained divell,…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *krewh₂- ‘raw meat, fresh blood’

raw, cruel, crude, pancreas, 8 more

Another origin of ree

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*(s)kreyt-‘to wind’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*hrīþō‘sudden attack’reconstructed
  3. Old Norsec. 800–1350hríð‘storm’
  4. Englishtodayree

Today it means

adj Wild; fierce; outrageous; overexcited; frenzied; delirious; crazy.

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

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *krewh₂- / ree