Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

rich

/ˈɹɪt͡ʃ/

Word Rarity Uncommon

Frequency: Zipf frequency 4.91 in modern English

Syllables: rich
IPA: /ˈɹɪt͡ʃ/

9

Scrabble Score

4

Letters

1

Syllables

4

Unique Chars

Meaning

adj

Wealthy: having a lot of money and possessions.

adj

Having an intense fatty or sugary flavour.

adj

adj

Plentiful, abounding, abundant, fulfilling.

adj

Yielding large returns; productive or fertile; fruitful.

adj

Composed of valuable or costly materials or ingredients; procured at great outlay; highly valued; precious; sumptuous; costly.

adj

Not faint or delicate; vivid.

adj

Informal

Example Sentences

"“A very welcome, kind, useful present, that means to the parish. By the way, Hopkins, let this go no further. We don't want the tale running round that a rich person has arrived. Churchill, my dear fellow, we have such greedy sharks, and wolves in lamb's clothing.[…]”"
"In order to grant the rich these pleasures, the social contract is reconfigured. The welfare state is dismantled. […]"
"The richest person in the world got even richer Friday, with Musk’s net worth hitting a record $347.8 billion, Bloomberg reported."
"a rich dish; rich cream or soup; rich pastry; a very rich chocolate cake"
"It is the richest food I have ever eaten, and for this reason I soon learned to partake of it sparingly."
"1709-1710, Thomas Baker, Reflections on Learning High sauces and rich spices are fetch'd from the Indies."

Etymology

From Middle English riche (“strong, powerful, rich”), from Old English rīċe (“powerful, mighty, great, high-ranking, rich, wealthy, strong, potent”), from Proto-West Germanic *rīkī (“powerful, rich”), from Proto-Germanic *rīkijaz (“kingly, powerful, rich”), from Proto-Germanic *rīks (“king, ruler”), an early borrowing from Proto-Celtic *rīxs, from Proto-Indo-European *h₃rḗǵs. Reinforced by Old French riche, from the same West Germanic source. Cognate with Dutch rijk, German reich, Danish rig, Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk, and Swedish rik, Faroese and Icelandic ríkur, Portuguese and Spanish rico, French riche, Italian ricco.

Origin

Source language: Middle English

Word Breakdown

Root: *h₃reǵ-, riche, rīċe, *rīkī, *rīkijaz, *rīks

Usage

Inflected Forms

richer (comparative) more rich (comparative) richest (superlative) most rich (superlative) riches (present, singular) riching (participle, present) riched (participle, past) riched (past)

Derived Forms

antirich derich generich megarich nonrich overrich richdom richen richery riches richish Richland

Phrases

be part of life's rich tapestry bird-rich cash rich engine-rich filthy rich get-rich-quick get rich quicker hood rich

Frequently Paired Words

nouveau riche

Synonyms

bow-legged wi' brass comfortably off filthy rich loaded fat minted moneyed moneybags of means oofy rich rich as Croesus

Antonyms

poor almsless arm badly off bankrupt beggared beggarly boracic broke broken broker than the Ten Commandments depauperate

Rhymes With

which bitch switch pitch witch mitch ditch niche twitch stitch glitch hitch

Questions

How do you pronounce rich?: The recorded pronunciation is /ˈɹɪt͡ʃ/.
What does rich mean?: Wealthy: having a lot of money and possessions.
Where does rich come from?: It is traced to Middle English.

How to pronounce rich

Open the pronunciation page — Open the Speakur entry for “rich”.
Read the phonetic spelling — Read the IPA spelling (/ˈɹɪt͡ʃ/) so you know which sounds to aim for.
Play the audio — Click Play to hear reference audio for “rich”.
Repeat and practice — Say “rich” aloud, matching stress and vowels until it feels natural.