Reaches

How to spell reaches

7 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce reaches

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does reaches mean?

1. verbStretches out to touch, arrives at, or makes contact with something (third-person singular).
2. nounContinuous stretches of a river, canal, or wider area, especially the parts named by distance or position.

Reaches in a sentence

• verb

  The delivery van usually reaches the depot by noon.

• noun

  The upper reaches of the river are too shallow for the barge.

• verb

  She reaches the top shelf only by standing on a stool.

• noun

  Anglers favour the quiet reaches above the weir.

Where does reaches come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

This is an inflected form of the verb and noun 'reach', which descends from the Old English verb ræcan, meaning 'to stretch out, extend the hand, or attain'. That early verb belonged to a family of West Germanic words built on a root meaning 'to stretch' and was closely related to the German reichen, 'to reach or hand over'. Over the centuries the core idea of stretching toward something broadened to cover arriving at a place, contacting a person, and extending influence or distance. The noun sense, as in 'the upper reaches of a river', grew from the same image of an unbroken stretch that the eye or the water extends across. The spelling keeps the soft 'ch', and the plural and third-person form simply adds '-es' after that consonant cluster, which is the usual rule after a 'ch' sound.

How the word is built

• reach (Old English ræcan: to stretch out, extend)
• -es (third-person singular verb / plural noun ending)