ragga

R1A1G2G2A1

noun

A subgenre of reggae and dancehall influenced by hip hop and digital production techniques such as sampling.

Less commonFirst used 1980sScrabble 7

Meanings

nounragga (uncountable)
  1. uncountableentertainmentA subgenre of reggae and dancehall influenced by hip hop and digital production techniques such as sampling.First known use 1980s

    Fling a ragga riddim like it's '03

    2019, Wiley et al, “Boasty”
    3 more examples

    Tosh's brand of roots reggae, with its emphasis on uplifting anthems and melodic riffs, now sounds as dated as The Wailers' earliest incarnation as a straight-up ska band, especially when listened to alongside the shuddering bass of most contemporary ragga tracks.

    1993 August, David Eimer, “Reel to Reel”, in The Wire, number 114, →ISSN, page 52

    The song samples Ricky Martin's hit Shake Your Bom-Bom but adds ragga's roughness. When Bam Bam comes on, the crowd goes wild.

    2001 September 15, Christopher John Farley, “Music Goes Global”, in Time, →ISSN

    A sub-genre of reggae, ragga is a modern Jamaican sound with ties to the oldest traditional music of that island-nation. The name is taken from the word “raggamuffin”, a term used for disenfranchised youth. One popular ragga singer called Half Pint said, “A lot of people interpret raggamuffin as if it [is]^([sic]) a criminal morality.”

    2016, Linda Dailey Paulson, “Ragga”, in Dave DiMartino, editor, Music in the 20th Century, volume 1, Routledge, →ISBN, page 514

Synonyms & antonyms

Also see

Origin

Clipping of raggamuffin, variant of ragamuffin (“troublemaker”), influenced by reggae.

Full word history & related roots →

Rhymes & wordplay

Anagrams

Cite this entry
APA

ragga. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ragga

MLA

“ragga.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ragga. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “ragga,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ragga.

Source: ragga on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.