Rhine
name, noun ·Uncommon ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 A watercourse; a ditch for water. UK, dialectal
"the Black Ditch and the Langmoor Rhine"
- 2 A running waterway that links a ditch or stream to a river.
- 1 A major river in western Europe, which flows through Switzerland, Austria, Liechtenstein, Germany, France and the Netherlands, before emptying into the North Sea.
Example
More examples"The Rhine is the boundary between France and Germany."
Etymology
From Middle English Rine, Ryne, from Old English Rīn (“the Rhine”), from Middle High German and Old High German Rīn, from Proto-West Germanic *Rīn, from Proto-Germanic *Rīnaz, from Gaulish Rēnos, from a Pre-Celtic or Proto-Celtic *reinos; one of a class of river names built from Proto-Indo-European *h₃reyH- (“to move, flow, run”). Cognate with Old High German Rīn ("the Rhine"; > German Rhein), Old Norse Rín (“the Rhine”), Dutch Rijn (“the Rhine”). Related also to Latin rivus ("river"), in Celtic with an -n- suffix as in Old Irish rīan (“run”) (more at run). The spelling with Rh- is due to the influence of Ancient Greek Ῥῆνος (Rhênos) (via French Rhin).
From Old English ryne. See run.
Related phrases
More for "rhine"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.