Rest

How to spell rest

4 letters · 1 syllable

How to pronounce rest

What does rest mean?

1. nounA period of relaxation or sleep in which one stops activity to recover.
2. verbTo stop activity in order to relax, or to place something so it is supported.
3. nounThe remaining part of something, or the others left over.

Rest in a sentence

• noun

  The doctor advised a few days of complete rest after the operation.

• verb

  The climbers paused to rest on a sheltered ledge.

• noun

  She paid the deposit now and will settle the rest next month.

• noun

  A short rest at midday helps her concentrate through the afternoon.

• verb

  She let the ladder rest against the brick wall.

• noun

  Two colleagues stayed late while the rest went home.

Where does rest come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

This is really two words that look identical. The 'repose' sense comes straight from Old English ræst or rest, a native Germanic word meaning a place of repose or a pause from labour, with close cousins in Old High German rasta and Gothic rasta that originally referred to a measured stage of a journey, a stretch you could travel before stopping. The 'remainder' sense, as in 'the rest of the day', arrived much later in the 1400s from Old French rester, meaning 'to remain' or 'be left over', which itself descends from Latin restare, formed from re- (back) and stare (to stand), so literally 'to stand back' or 'stay behind'. The two meanings merged into one spelling in English, which is why a single short word can mean both 'a break' and 'what is left'. The word is short and phonetic, so the only real trap is its homophone wrest, meaning to wrench something away, which keeps a silent w.

How the word is built

• rest (single root from Old English ræst/rest, meaning repose); the 'remainder' sense is a separate borrowing from French rester (to remain)