rich
Definitions
General English
General Science
- adjective having a high ratio of fuel to air
- suffix (written as -rich)having a lot of something
Agriculture
Aviation
- adjective referring to a mixture in which the ratio of fuel to air is greater than usual
Banking
- suffix (written as -rich)meaning ‘which contains or has a large amount of something’
Cars & Driving
- adjective of an air/fuel mixture that has more petrol than normal.
Commerce
- adjective having a lot of money
Food
- adjective Very sweet, high in fat, oil or cream content or highly seasoned
Medical
- adjective referring to food which has a high calorific value
Wine
Origin & History of “rich”
The original meaning of rich was ‘mighty, noble’. It goes back ultimately to the Indo-European base *reg- ‘move in a straight line’, hence ‘direct’, hence ‘rule’, source of English right, Latin rēx ‘king’ (ancestor of English regal, royal, etc), and Latin regere ‘rule’ (ancestor of English regent, regiment, etc). The Old Celtic equivalent of Latin rēx was rīx ‘king’. this was borrowed into prehistoric Germanic, where it subsequently evolved into German reich, Dutch rijk, Swedish rik, Danish rig, and English rich. (It was also taken over by the romance languages, giving French riche, Italian ricco, etc.) The sense ‘mighty, noble’ survived in English into the late middle Ages, but ‘wealthy’ had started to develop in Germanic, and eventually saw off ‘mighty’.
