Etymology

Richard

Rich·ard
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Today it means: A turd. Full definition →

Middle English Rycharde ← Old French Richard ← Medieval Latin Richardus
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Richard · proper noun1

  1. Proto-Indo-European*h₃reǵ-
  2. Proto-Indo-European*h₃rḗǵs
  3. Proto-Celtic*rīxs
  4. Proto-Germanic*rīks
  5. Proto-West Germanic*rīk
  6. Proto-Indo-European*kret-der.?
  7. Proto-Germanic*harduz
  8. Proto-West Germanic*hardu
  9. Proto-West Germanic*Rīkuhardu
  10. Old High GermanRihhart
  11. Middle High GermanRihard
  12. Medieval LatinRichardus
  13. Old FrenchRichard
  14. Middle EnglishRycharde
  15. English todayRichard

From Middle English Rycharde, from Old French Richard, from Medieval Latin Richardus, Ricohardus, from Frankish *Rīkahard, from Proto-Germanic *Rīkaharduz, a construction of *rīks (“king, ruler”) + *harduz (“hard, brave”). Cognate with Old High German Rīcohard (“Richard”). Partially related to rich. A hypothetical Old English equivalent *Rīċheard would also yield an identical "Richard" in Modern English, though it is unknown if the Old English equivalent existed.

Richard · noun2

Clipping of Richard III.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.