Rita

name, noun

name, noun ·2 syllables ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    Alternative form of rta (“Vedic principle”). alt-of, alternative, uncountable
  2. 2
    Alternative form of ritha (“fish”) alt-of, alternative, uncountable
Proper Noun
  1. 1
    A female given name from the Romance languages, Italian, or Spanish.

    "Born Margarita Carmen Cansino to Eduardo and Volga Haworth Cansino on October 17, 1918, in New York City, Rita Hayworth was no stranger to show business."

  2. 2
    A female given name from Sanskrit.

Example

More examples

"Matt Brown is Rita Lewis's husband."

Etymology

Etymology 1

From Romance (Italian Rita, Spanish Rita). A shortening of Italian Margherita, and Spanish Margarita, cognates of English Margaret. An Italian Saint Rita was canonized in 1900. The English name came into regular use in early twentieth century.

Etymology 2

From South Asian languages, from Sanskrit रीता (rītā).

Related phrases

Santa Rita

More for "rita"

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