Etymology

raffle

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Today it means: A drawing, often held as a fundraiser, in which tickets or chances are sold to win a prize. Full definition →

Middle English rafle ← Old French rafle ← Frankish *raffolōn
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raffle · noun, verb1

  1. Proto-Indo-European · derived from*(s)ker-“to turn, bend”
  2. Proto-Indo-European · derived from*(s)kreb(h)-
  3. Proto-Germanic · derived from*hrapōną
  4. Frankish · derived from*raffolōn
  5. Old French · derived fromrafle
  6. Middle English · inherited fromrafle
  7. English todayraffle

From Middle English rafle, from Old French rafle, raffle (“dice game", also "plundering”), from rafler (“to snatch, seize, carry off”), from Frankish *raffolōn, from Proto-Germanic *hrapōną, *hrēpōną (“to scratch, touch, pluck out, snatch”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)kreb(h)-, *(s)kerb(h)- (“to turn, bend, shrink”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ker- (“to turn, bend”). Cognate with Middle Dutch raffel (“dice game”), German raffen (“to snatch away, sweep off”), Old English hreppan (“to touch, treat, attack”).

raffle · noun2

See raff.

Words from the same roots

Proto-Indo-European*(s)ker- all →

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Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.