Ras

name, noun

name, noun ·1 syllable ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    An Ethiopian king or prince.
  2. 2
    A headland; a cape.
  3. 3
    plural of Ra form-of, plural
  4. 4
    Initialism of retinoic acid syndrome abbreviation, alt-of, countable, initialism, uncountable
  5. 5
    plural of RA form-of, plural
Show 8 more definitions
  1. 6
    the network in the reticular formation that serves an alerting or arousal function wordnet
  2. 7
    Initialism of redundant acronym syndrome. abbreviation, alt-of, countable, initialism, uncountable
  3. 8
    Initialism of replenishment at sea. abbreviation, alt-of, countable, initialism, uncountable
  4. 9
    Abbreviation of rail accessory system. abbreviation, alt-of, countable, uncountable
  5. 10
    Initialism of reticular activating system. abbreviation, alt-of, countable, initialism, uncountable
  6. 11
    Initialism of reasonable articulable suspicion. abbreviation, alt-of, countable, initialism, uncountable
  7. 12
    Initialism of renin-angiotensin system. abbreviation, alt-of, countable, initialism, uncountable
  8. 13
    Initialism of remote access service. abbreviation, alt-of, countable, initialism, uncountable
Proper Noun
  1. 1
    A surname.
  2. 2
    A male given name. rare

    "Newark Mayor Ras Baraka "committed trespass and ignored multiple warnings" to leave Delaney Hall, a facility being run by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), according to acting US attorney for New Jersey Alina Habba."

Example

More examples

"Newark Mayor Ras Baraka "committed trespass and ignored multiple warnings" to leave Delaney Hall, a facility being run by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), according to acting US attorney for New Jersey Alina Habba."

Etymology

Etymology 1

From Amharic ራስ (ras). More at Etymology 2.

Etymology 2

From Arabic رأس (raʔs, “head(land)”). Doublet of ras (Etymology 1) above, as well as of resh; further related to reis.

Etymology 3

Various origins: * Borrowed from Czech Raš and Polish Raś, a pet form of various Slavic personal names * Borrowed from Spanish Ras, from ras (“level”); perhaps a topographic surname for someone who lived on flat land * Borrowed from French and Catalan Ras, from ras (“shorn, peeled, bare”), hence a topographic surname for someone who lived on a barren or razed area * Borrowed from Dutch Ras, nickname for a nimble person, from ras (“quick, swift”)

Related phrases

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.