‹ Back to the text

re

ra

masc acc pl of ra (letter); masc loc sg of ra (letter)

1. ra (letter): (gram) letter r; 35th letter of the alphabet; retroflex semi-vowel
2. re (ind): (expressing contempt) hey!; oh!

Etymology. An exclamation, likely of onomatopoetic or expressive origin; cognate with Latin re- (used in addressing, as in "re, amice") and English "eh". The root sense is one of calling out or turning attention toward someone.

Meanings from the Digital Pāḷi Dictionary; morphology and etymology by Claude.

Lite mode — plain HTML for e-readers and old browsers. Full version