redd

R1E1D2D2
/ɹɛd/

verb

To free from entanglement.

OriginMiddle English reden ← Old English ġerǣdan ← Proto-West Germanic *garaidijan →
Less commonScrabble 6
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Meanings

redd1

verbredd (third-person singular simple present redds, present participle redding, simple past and past participle redd or redded)

present singular third person redds · participle present redding · participle past redded · past redded · alternative red

  1. dialectalobsoleteTo free from entanglement.
  2. dialectalobsoleteTo free from embarrassment.
  3. Northern EnglandScotlanddialectalobsoleteTo fix boundaries.
  4. Northern EnglandScotlanddialectalobsoleteTo comb hair.
  5. Northern EnglandScotlanddialectalobsoleteTo separate combatants.
  6. Northern EnglandScotlanddialectalobsoleteTo settle, usually a quarrel.
  7. Northern EnglandScotlanddialectalobsoleteTo tidy up, clear away.
  8. PennsylvaniadialectalobsoleteTo clean, tidy up, to put in order.

    I've got to redd the place before your mother gets back.

redd2

nounredd (plural redds)

plural redds

  1. dialectalobsoleteA spawning nest made by a fish.

    2007, Michael Klesius, Fishes' Riches, National Geographic (March 2007), 32, A female chinook salmon digs her redd, or nest, prior to spawning in Oregon's John Day River.

redd3

verb
  1. dialectalobsoleteparticiplepastsimple past and past participle of rede
  2. dialectalobsoleteparticiplepastsimple past and past participle of read

    The Works of John Knox (1514–72), published 1841

Redd4

proper noun
  1. A surname.

Origin

redd · verb

  1. Proto-Germanic*hradjaną“to loosen, set free, save”
  2. Middle Low Germanredden
  3. Proto-Germanic*rudjaną
  4. Old Norseryðja“to clear, free, empty”
  5. Proto-Germanic*hradjaną
  6. Proto-West Germanic*hraddjan
  7. Old Englishhreddan“to save, deliver, recover, rescue”
  8. Proto-Germanic*garaidijaną“to arrange”
  9. Proto-West Germanic*garaidijan
  10. Old Englishġerǣdan“to put in order, arrange, prepare”
  11. Middle Englishreden“to clean up, to clear”
  12. Englishredd

Fusion of Middle English reden (“to clean up, to clear”) and redden (“to save, rescue, deliver, rid, free, clear”). The former is from Old English ġerǣdan (“to put in order, arrange, prepare”), from Proto-West Germanic *garaidijan, from Proto-Germanic *garaidijaną (“to arrange”); the latter, from Old English hreddan (“to save, deliver, recover, rescue”), from Proto-West Germanic *hraddjan, from Proto-Germanic *hradjaną. More at rid and ready. The Scottish and Northern English senses (especially 3.5 “tidy up, clear away”) are likely from Old Norse ryðja (“to clear, free, empty”), from Proto-Germanic *rudjaną, having conflated with the native word reden (see above); if so, that would make them related to Danish and Norwegian Bokmål rydde (“to clear, tidy”). The Pennsylvania (Dutch English) sense is from Middle Low German redden, cognate with Dutch redden (“to save, rescue”), both ultimately also from Proto-Germanic *hradjaną (“to loosen, set free, save”). The meaning is clearly historically conflated and related to the native English word, however their exact origin and relationship are unclear.

More words from Middle English, Old English, Proto-West Germanic

Full word history & related roots →

redd · noun

Origin obscure, possibly from the act of the fish scooping, clearing out a spawning place, see redd above.

Full word history & related roots →

redd · verb

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Full word history & related roots →

Rhymes & wordplay

Sounds the same

redreadredreadredread
Cite this entry
APA

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

MLA

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

Chicago

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

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