Rich

How to spell rich

4 letters · 1 syllable

How to pronounce rich

What does rich mean?

1. adjectiveHaving a great deal of money, property, or valuable assets.
2. adjectiveContaining a large amount of something, or full and intense in quality.

Rich in a sentence

• The family grew rich from years of careful investment.

• The soil here is rich in nutrients, so the garden thrives.

• Only the very rich could afford a house in that district.

• The dessert was so rich that one slice was enough.

Where does rich come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

Rich descends from the Old English word 'rice', which meant 'powerful, mighty, of high rank' rather than simply having money. That word came from a Germanic root shared across the old Northern languages, and it was itself an early borrowing from the Celtic root 'rig' meaning 'king', the same element seen in Latin 'rex' and in royal titles across Europe. Over the centuries the sense drifted from political power toward material wealth, so that by the late medieval period 'rich' chiefly described someone with abundant possessions. The modern spelling was reinforced by Old French 'riche', which had itself absorbed the same Germanic word, leaving the simple four-letter form we use today. Because the word is short and entirely regular, the spelling has stayed stable and gives modern writers no real trap.

How the word is built

• rich (a single Old English root meaning powerful or wealthy; no affixes)