Rate

How to spell rate

4 letters · 1 syllable

How to pronounce rate

What does rate mean?

1. nounA measure, charge, or frequency expressed in relation to some other quantity, such as time or money.
2. verbTo assign a value, rank, or level of quality to something.

Rate in a sentence

• noun

  The bank cut the interest rate again this quarter.

• verb

  Critics tend to rate the early albums far higher than the later ones.

• noun

  The nurse recorded his heart rate every hour.

• verb

  Inspectors will rate each restaurant on cleanliness and service.

Where does rate come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word traces back to the Latin phrase pro rata parte, meaning 'according to a calculated part', in which rata was the feminine past participle of reri, 'to reckon' or 'to calculate'. The sense was of something reckoned, fixed, or proportioned out, which is why the earliest English uses centred on a fixed amount or proportion. English picked it up in the 1400s, partly through Old French, where it carried the idea of an established value or charge. Over time the meaning branched: a charge per unit (an interest rate), a frequency measured against time (a heart rate), and, as a verb, the act of judging worth. The same reri root sits behind 'ratio' and 'ratify', and the link to careful reckoning explains why the spelling stays close to its Latin source despite the silent final e.

How the word is built

• rat- (from Latin rata, a fixed amount)
• -e (English form)