ray

See also Ray, and rầy

English

Rays from the sun(1)

Wikipedia Wikipedia

Pronunciation

• (RP) enPR: rā, IPA: /ɹeɪ/, X-SAMPA: /r\eI/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪ

Etymology 1

Via Middle English, from Old French rai, from Latin radius (“staff, stake, spoke”).

Noun

ray (plural rays)

1. A beam of light or radiation.

   I saw a ray of light through the clouds.

2. A marine fish with a flat body, large wing-like fins, and a whip-like tail.
3. A rib-like reinforcement of bone or cartilage in a fish's fin.
4. (mathematics) A line extending indefinitely in one direction from a point.
5. (colloquial) A tiny amount.

   Unfortunately he didn't have a ray of hope.

Derived terms

terms derived from ray (noun)

death ray gamma ray manta ray

ray gun stingray X-ray

Translations

beam of light or radiation

• Albanian: rreze (sq) f
• Arabic: شعاع (ar) (šuʿāʿ) m
• Armenian: ճառագայթ (hy) (č̣aṙagayt’), ճաճանչ (hy) (č̣ač̣anč), շող (hy) (šoġ)
• Aromanian: radzã (rup) f
• Berber:

  Tachelhit: aẓnẓar m

• Belarusian: прамень (be) (prámjenʹ) m
• Bulgarian: лъч (bg) (lǎč) m
• Catalan: raig (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 射線 (cmn), 射线 (cmn) (shèxiàn), 光線 (cmn), 光线 (cmn) (guāngxiàn)

• Czech: paprsek (cs) m
• Dalmatian: rus m
• Dutch: straal (nl) f
• Esperanto: radio (eo), radiuso (eo)
• Finnish: säde (fi)
• French: rayon (fr) m
• Friulian: rai
• Georgian: შუქი (ka) (šuk’i)
• German: Strahl (de) m
• Greek: ακτίνα (el) (aktína) f
• Hebrew: קרן (he) (qeren) f
• Hungarian: sugár (hu)
• Indonesian: sinar (id)
• Italian: raggio (it) m
• Japanese: 光線 (ja) (こうせん, kōsen)
• Korean: 광선 (ko) (gwangseon), 光線 (ko)
• Kurdish:

  Sorani: تشک (ku) (tishk)

• Latgalian: spaits
• Latin: radius (la)
• Latvian: stars (lv) m
• Lithuanian: spindulys (lt)
• Luxembourgish: Stral (lb)
• Macedonian: зрак (mk) (zrak) m
• Malay: sinaran (ms)
• Occitan: rai (oc)
• Persian: شعاع (fa) (šo'â'), پرتو (fa) (partu)
• Polish: promień (pl) m
• Portuguese: raio (pt) m
• Romanian: rază (ro) f
• Russian: луч (ru) (luč) m, излучение (ru) (izlučénije) n
• Sardinian: ragiu (sc) m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: зрака (sh) f, зрак (sh) m

  Roman: zrȁka (sh) f, zrȃk (sh) m

• Slovak: lúč (sk) m
• Slovene: žarek (sl) m
• Spanish: rayo (es) m
• Swedish: stråle (sv) c
• Telugu: కిరణము (te)(kiraNamu)
• Turkish: ışın (tr), hüzme (tr), ışık değneği (tr)
• Ukrainian: промінь (uk) (próminʹ) m
• Venetian: rajo
• Vietnamese: tia (vi)

marine fish with a flat body, large wing-like fins, and a whip-like tail

• Catalan: rajada (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 鱝 (cmn), 鲼 (cmn) (fèn), 鰩 (cmn), 鳐 (cmn) (yáo), 魟魚 (cmn), 𫚉鱼 (cmn) (hóngyú)

• Dutch: rog (nl) m
• Esperanto: rajo (eo)
• Finnish: rausku (fi)
• French: raie (fr) f
• German: Rochen (de) m
• Greek: σαλάχι (el) (salakhe) n, νάρκη (el) (narke) f, μουδιάστρα (el) (mudiastra) f
• Hungarian: rája (hu)
• Italian: razza (it)
• Japanese: えい (ja) (ei), エイ (ja) (ei)

• Jèrriais: cârrée f, raie f, fliée f
• Latvian: raja (lv) f
• Malay: pari (ms)
• Maori: whai (mi)
• Polish: płaszczka (pl) f
• Portuguese: arraia (pt) f, raia (pt) f
• Russian: скат (ru) (skat) m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: ража (sh) f

  Roman: raža (sh) f

• Spanish: raya (es)
• Swedish: rocka (sv) c
• Ukrainian: скат (uk) (skat) m
• Wolof: umbulaan wi (wo)

reinforcing in a fish's fin

• Finnish: piikki (fi) (bone), ruoto (fi) (cartilage)

mathematics: line extending indefinitely in one direction from a point

• Armenian: ճառագայթ (hy) (č̣aṙagayt’)
• Czech: polopřímka (cs) f
• Dutch: straal (nl) f
• Esperanto: radio (eo), radiuso (eo)
• Finnish: säde (fi)
• German: Strahl (de) m
• Greek: ημιευθεία (el) (imieftheía)
• Hebrew: קרן (he) (qeren) f
• Italian: raggio (it) m
• Latvian: stars (lv) m

• Polish: promień (pl) m
• Portuguese: raio (pt) m
• Russian: луч (ru) (luč) m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: полуправац (sh) m

  Roman: pȍlupravac (sh) m

• Spanish: semirrecta (es) f
• Swedish: stråle (sv) c
• Telugu: రేఖ (te) (raekha)
• Turkish: ışın (tr)
• Ukrainian: промінь (uk) (próminʹ) m
• Urdu: شعاع (ur) (śuā) f

colloquial: tiny amount

• Catalan: raig (ca) (un raig d’esperança)
• Dutch: straaltje (nl) n
• Finnish: rahtunen (fi)

• German: Hoffnungsstrahl (de) m (ray of hope)
• Portuguese: pingo (pt) m, fio (pt) m
• Swedish: stråle (sv) c

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.

Translations to be checked

• Italian: raggio (it) m

Verb

ray (third-person singular simple present rays, present participle raying, simple past and past participle rayed)

1. (transitive) To emit something as if in rays.
2. (intransitive) To radiate as if in rays

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Elizabeth Barrett Browning to this entry?)

Translations

to emit something as if in rays, to radiate as if in rays

• Malay: sinar (ms), menyinar (ms), bersinar (ms)

• Serbo-Croatian: zráčiti (sh)

Etymology 2

Noun

ray

1. (music) An anglicised spelling of re.

Etymology 3

From its sound, by analogy with the letters chay, jay, gay, kay, which it resembles graphically.

Noun

ray (plural rays)

1. The name of the letter ⟨/⟩, one of two which represent the r sound in Pitman shorthand.

Related terms

• ar, in Latin and the name of the other Pitman r

Etymology 4

Noun

ray (uncountable)

1. (obsolete) Array; order; arrangement; dress.
   • Spenser

     And spoiling all her gears and goodly ray.

Anagrams

• ayr, Ayr, yar

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Kurdish

Etymology

From Arabic

Noun

ray gender unspecified

1. opinion

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Turkish

Etymology

From French rail.

Noun

ray

1. rail