ret
/ɹɛt/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.18 in modern English
3
Scrabble Score
3
Letters
1
Syllables
3
Unique Chars
Meaning
verb
To prepare (flax, hemp etc.) for further processing by soaking, which facilitates separation of fibers from the woody parts of the stem.
Transitive verb
adj
Abbreviation of retired.
noun
Clipping of reiteration.
Example Sentences
- "the hemp was retted / and soon the retting was done / and swiftly it was hung up / and hurriedly it was dried […]."
- "the lowland nearly silent except for water-thrushes, the harvested fields, the smell of hops being dried in kilns, flax pulled up and piled in sheaves, in local practice not to be retted till the spring"
Etymology
From Middle English retten, reten; perhaps from Middle Dutch rēten, reeten (compare Middle Low German rōten; Middle High German rōzen), or from Old Norse reyta (compare Norwegian røyta, Swedish röta); all from Proto-Germanic *rautijaną (“to make mellow or soft”), from Proto-Indo-European *rewd- (“to tear; rend; rip”). Related to rot.
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: retten, rēten, reyta, *rautijaną, *rewd-
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ɹɛt/
- British English: /ɹɛt/