arraign
/əˈɹeɪn/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 1.77 in modern English
8
Scrabble Score
7
Letters
2
Syllables
5
Unique Chars
Meaning
verb
To officially charge someone in a court of law.
noun
Example Sentences
- "He was arraigned in Washington, D.C., on the 25th of that month on charges of treason."
- "He will then be arraigned, at which point the specific charges will be unsealed."
- "They will not dare to arraign you for want of knowledge."
- "It is not arrogance, but timidity, of which the Christian body should now be arraigned by the world."
- "the clerk of the arraigns"
- "The clerk of the arraigns stood up"
Etymology
From Middle English areynen (“to interrogate, arraign, reprimand”), from Anglo-Norman areiner, arener, from Old French araisnier, areisnier, aresnier (“to speak to, address; accuse (in a law court)”) (whence modern French arraisonner (“to verify cargo, to arraign”)), from Vulgar Latin *arratiōnāre, from Latin adratiōnāre, from ad (“to”) + *ratiōnāre (“to reason, talk reasonably, talk”), from ratiō (“reason, reasoning, discourse”), from rat-, past-participle stem of rērī (“to reckon, calculate”). First attested in the late 14th century. Doublet of areason. About the -g- within the word, Etymonline and the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary both agree that it is present by hypercorrection and appears since the 16th century. The Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) and the Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology (1986) however, provides two etymological links each, which are Old French aragnier and araigner. The Oxford English Dictionary (1885, 1989) did not support either of these hypotheses, but did attribute Old French arraigner, arainer to an unrelated obsolete sense and etymon.
Origin
- Source language: Middle English
- First known use: First attested in the late 14th century
Word Breakdown
- Root: areynen, areiner, araisnier, *arratiōnāre, adratiōnāre, aragnier