Wiktionary

rain

See also: Rain, ràin, and räin

English

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Rain falling

Pronunciation

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Etymology 1

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From Middle English reyn, rein, from Old English reġn, from Proto-West Germanic *regn, from Proto-Germanic *regną (compare West Frisian rein, Dutch regen, German Regen, Danish and Norwegian regn), of uncertain origin. Possibly from pre-Germanic *Hréǵ-no-, from Proto-Indo-European *Hreǵ- (“to flow”) (compare Latin rigō (“wet, soak”), Lithuanian rõki (“drizzling rain”), Albanian rrjedh (“to flow, drip”)), although the consonant reflexes don't match.

Alternative forms

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Noun

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rain (usually uncountable, plural rains)

  1. Condensed water falling from a cloud.
    We've been having a lot of rain lately.
    The rains came late that year.
    • 2019, VOA Learning English (public domain)
      This process involves cloud seeding – when various substances are put into clouds in an attempt to cause rain.
      Audio (US):(file)
  2. (figuratively) Any matter moving or falling, usually through air, and especially if liquid or otherwise figuratively identifiable with raindrops.
  3. (figuratively) An instance of particles or larger pieces of matter moving or falling through air.
    A rain of mortar fire fell on our trenches.
Usage notes
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Synonyms
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Derived terms
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Descendants
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  • Sranan Tongo: alen
Translations
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The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Verb

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rain (third-person singular simple present rains, present participle raining, simple past and past participle rained)

  1. (impersonal) To have rain fall from the sky.
    Judging by the black cloud, it will rain later today.
  2. (intransitive) To fall as or like rain.
    Tears rained from her eyes.
    Leaves rained from the tree.
    Bombs rained from the sky.
  3. (transitive) To issue (something) in large quantities.
    The boxer rained punches on his opponent's head.
Conjugation
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Conjugation of rain
infinitive (to) rain
present tense past tense
1st-person singular rain rained
2nd-person singular rain, rainest† rained, rainedst†
3rd-person singular rains, raineth† rained
plural rain
subjunctive rain rained
imperative rain —
participles raining rained

†Archaic or obsolete.

Derived terms
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Translations
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The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

See also

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Etymology 2

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Verb

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rain (third-person singular simple present rains, present participle raining, simple past and past participle rained)

  1. Obsolete form of reign.

Anagrams

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Japanese

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Romanization

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rain

  1. Rōmaji transcription of ライン

Kavalan

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Noun

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rain

  1. waves in the open sea

Middle English

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Noun

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rain

  1. Alternative form of reyn (“rain”)

Sera

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Noun

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rain

  1. water

References

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  • Terry Crowley, Claire Bowern, An Introduction to Historical Linguistics (2010, →ISBN, page 333
  • Stephen Adolphe Wurm, New Guinea Area Languages and Language Study (1976)

Sissano

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Noun

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rain

  1. water

References

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  • Stephen Adolphe Wurm, New Guinea Area Languages and Language Study (1976)
  • John Nystrom, Sissano Organised Phonology Data (1992) (as rayn several times in a story; compare ranrayn "wet")

Tetum

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Etymology

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From the Tetum noun rai.

Noun

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rain

  1. country
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