reed.
Any of various types of tall stiff perennial grass-like plants growing together in groups near water.
Meaning & usage
Any of various types of tall stiff perennial grass-like plants growing together in groups near water.
The hollow stem of these plants.
Part of an aerophone musical instrument, comprising a thin piece of wood or metal, which vibrates to produce sound when air passes through it.
Short for reed instrument.
A comb-like part of a beater for beating the weft when weaving.
A piece of whalebone or similar for stiffening the skirt or waist of a woman's dress.
Reeding.
A tube containing the train of powder for igniting the charge in blasting.
Straw prepared for thatching a roof.
A missile weapon.
A measuring rod.
A measuring rod. A Babylonian unit of measure the length of a reed, equal to half a nindan, or six cubits.
Where this word comes from
From Middle English red, from Old English hrēod, from Proto-West Germanic *hreud (“reed”), of uncertain origin. Cognates Cognate with North Frisian raid (“reed”), Saterland Frisian Räit (“reed”), West Frisian reid (“reed”), Dutch riet (“reed”), German Reet, Ried (“reed”). No cognates in North Germanic languages, but the existence of an otherwise unattested Gothic *𐌷𐍂𐌹𐌿𐌳 (*hriud) was supposed by the brothers Grimm. They also theorised that the word may have a relation to the retas mentioned in Noctes Atticae (Aulus Gellius). The measuring reed sense is the translation of Akkadian qanûm ("cane") used in the Bible and elsewhere.
To thatch.
To mill or mint with reeding.
Where this word comes from
From Middle English reden, from the noun (see above).
The fourth stomach of a ruminant; rennet.
Where this word comes from
From Middle English rede (“abomasum”), from Old English rēada, from Proto-West Germanic *raudō.
simple past and past participle of ree
Where this word comes from
See ree.
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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.
Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.