Word origins

• prolongeA rope with a hook and a toggle, sometimes used to drag a gun carriage or to tie it to the limber, and for various other purposes.
• prop-Denoting the presence of 3 carbon atoms in the parent chain when forming names of organic compounds.
• propionic acidThe compound with the formula CH₃CH₂COOH, a naturally occurring carboxylic acid with a pungent odor.
• protogineA form of granite containing silvery flakes of talc or similar minerals.
• ProustianOf, pertaining to, or reminiscent of Marcel Proust (1871–1922), French novelist, or his works.
• prunelloA species of dried plum; a prunelle.
• psalmographyThe act or practice of writing psalms.
• psychodyslepticThat brings on a dreamlike mental state; hallucinogenic.
• psychotronicsA field of military technology dealing with electronic weapons or devices used to either degrade or enhance human health by directed energy.
• ptomaineAny of various amines formed by putrefactive bacteria.
• puceronAny of a number of plant live, or aphids.
• pudicEasily ashamed, having a strong sense of shame; modest, chaste.
• puericultureThe rearing of young children, conceived of as an art or science.
• pulpatoonA fruit or meat pie with the crust made of forcemeat.
• puneseA bedbug.
• puntyA metal rod used in the glassblowing process. After a glass vessel has been blown to approximate size and the bottom of the piece has been finalized, the rod, which is tipped with a wad of hot glass, is attached to the bottom of the vessel to hold it while the top is finalized. It often leaves an irregular or ring-shaped scar on the base when removed, called the pontil mark.
• purismAn insistence on pure or unmixed forms.
• purprepurple
• putanismprostitution; harlotry.
• putridityThe state of being putrid.
• putrilageSomething undergoing, or having undergone putrefaction.
• quadrimesterA period of four months or about four months.
• quadrumaneHaving four limbs with hand-like extremities and opposable digits; quadrumanous; loosely, "ape-like".
• quatorzainA poem or stanza consisting of fourteen lines.
• quenouille trainingA method of training trees or shrubs in the shape of a cone or distaff by tying down the branches and pruning.
• questionaryA questionnaire.
• quinateFeaturing five leaflets growing from a single point; quinquefoliolate.
• rabatoStiff collar, wired or starched, worn in the 16th and 17th centuries; sometimes used as a support for the ruff.
• RabelaisianPertaining to the works or period of Rabelais.
• rachitomeA dissecting instrument for opening the spinal canal.
• raclageThe destruction of a soft growth by rubbing, as with a brush or harsh sponge; curettage, grattage, scraping.
• raguledRaguly.
• raisonnéArranged systematically, or according to classes or topics.
• rambadeThe raised platform above the main artillery in the bow of the type of galley used from the 15th to the 19th century, used as a fighting platform and command post.
• ramedHaving the frames, stem, and sternpost adjusted; — said of a ship on the stocks.
• ramollescenceA softening or mollifying; softness
• rangaleThe ranks or body of an army.
• Rapides ParishOne of 64 parishes in Louisiana, United States, the equivalent of a county in other US states. Parish seat: Alexandria.
• rappeeA dark, coarse, strongly flavoured snuff.
• rasanteSweeping; grazing; applied to a style of fortification in which the command of the works over each other, and over the country, is kept very low, so that the shot may more effectually sweep or graze the ground before them
• rationmentSynonym of rationing.
• ratissageA raid (especially violent) carried out by the police or military, originally and chiefly carried out by the French in Algeria. and, prior to that, by the Milice (Vichy Government counter-terror police) in 1943-44.
• ratteenA thick, coarse, woolen twill.
• razeeAn armed ship with its upper deck cut away, and thus reduced to the next inferior rate, such as a seventy-four cut down to a frigate.
• rechaseTo chase again; to chase or drive back.
• reciproquereciprocal
• réclamePublicity; an advertisement.
• RecoreA surname from French.
• redowaA dance of Czech origin with turning, leaping waltz steps.
• refoulTo refuse entry to a country and repatriate (an immigrant or asylum-seeker)
• regorgeTo disgorge or vomit.
• relevéA position in which the dancer rises to the ball of the feet from demi plié to balance on one or both feet. Can be done on demi-pointe, or full pointe
• rememorationRecall by means of the memory; remembrance.
• RenéeA female given name from French.
• renovelTo renew; to renovate.
• renvoyA sending back.
• repetiteurA tutor or coach of ballet dancers or opera singers.
• replacismThe supposed ideology in favor of the Great Replacement.
• representantA representative.
• requiem sharkAny member of the taxonomic family Carcharhinidae (order Carcharhiniformes).
• rerefiefA fief held by an intermediary or subtenant
• resentimentFeeling or sense of anything; the state of being deeply affected by anything.
• resiliateTo exit, cancel, or draw back from a lease or contract.
• resiliationThe act of cancelling, annulling or drawing back from (a contract).
• retiradeA kind of retrenchment, as in the body of a bastion, which may be disputed inch by inch after the defenses are dismantled. It usually consists of two faces which make a reentering angle.
• retour sans protêtan instruction by a drawer of a bill of exchange that the bill may be returned without protest if it is dishonoured by the drawee.
• retrogardeDescriptive of an art movement, particularly in Slovenia, that looks back to the past, as opposed to avant-garde.
• retropharyngealLocated behind the pharynx.
• retrousséTurned up, especially when describing the nose.
• return to one's muttonsTo get back to the business at hand.
• revanchismThe political policy of endeavouring to regain lost territory.
• revanchistA revanchist person; occasionally, anyone seeking vengeance.
• revendicationThe act of revendicating.
• revertibleAble to be reverted.
• RevetteA surname from French.
• rhapsodomancyDivination by reading a random passage from a poem.
• RhodanianOf, or aboriginal to, the Rhône valley.
• riantMirthful, cheerful, smiling, light-hearted.
• ribauldequinAn engine of war used in the Middle Ages, consisting of a protected elevated staging on wheels, and armed in front with pikes. After the 14th century it was furnished with small cannon.
• RicœurA surname from French — famously held by
• RicœurianOf or relating to Paul Ricœur (1913–2005), French philosopher best known for combining phenomenological description with hermeneutics.
• rigadoonA quickstep dance for two people.
• rigoletA small stream.
• rigosolA deeply ploughed agricultural soil type.
• rilletteA dish of meat cooked in fat then shredded and served in a ramekin.
• ripostA thrust given in return after parrying a lunge.
• RivereA surname from French.
• roccellic acidA dibasic acid, C₁₇H₃₂O₄, of the oxalic series, found in archil (Roccella tinctoria, etc.), and other lichens.
• roche moutonnéeA rock formation created by glacial erosion.
• roching caskA tank in which alum is crystallized from a solution.
• roi fainéantAny of the later French kings of the Merovingian dynasty, considered to have played a merely ceremonial role.
• romeiteA yellow hexoctahedral calcium antimonate mineral with the chemical formula (Ca,Fe,Mn,Na)₂(Sb,Ti)₂O₆(O,OH,F).
• ronyonA mangy or scabby creature.
• roquelaureA lined and trimmed cloak that reaches to the knees, often with bright-coloured lining and trimmed with fur.
• Rose CroixRosicrucianism
• RostandianOf or relating to Edmond Rostand (1868–1918), French poet and dramatist.
• rouanneA branding iron.
• rounceThe handle by which the bed of a hand press, holding the form of type, etc., is run in under the platen and out again.
• rousetteAny of a number of species of fruit bat, of the genus Rousettus.
• RouvièreA surname from French.