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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

rinse.

To wash (something) quickly using water and no soap.

5 characters1 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

verb/ɹɪns//ɹɛns/US, dated, regional
  1. To wash (something) quickly using water and no soap.

    transitive
    You'd better rinse that stain before putting the shirt in the washing machine.
  2. To remove soap from (something) using water.

    transitive
    Rinse the dishes after you wash them.
  3. To drink and hangout with friends.

    transitive
    Let's Rinse later tonight at my house.
  4. To swish (a liquid) around the inside of something.

    transitive
  5. To thoroughly defeat in an argument, fight or other competition.

    UK · slang
    You got rinsed.
Where this word comes from

From Middle English rinsen, rincen, rencen (“to rinse”), from Old French rincier, reinser, Old Northern French raïncer (“to rinse, cleanse”). Of contested origin. Possibly from Old Norse hreinsa, from Proto-Germanic *hrainisōną (“to clean, purify”), from Proto-Indo-European *krey- (“to separate, divide”). Alternatively from a dissimilation of Old French recincier, from Latin recentare (“to make fresh”). Cognate with French rincer. From the Germanic verb are Danish rense, Norwegian rense, Swedish rensa (all “to clean”), Old High German reinisōn (“to clean, purify, atone”). It is related to German rein (“pure”), Gothic 𐌷𐍂𐌰𐌹𐌽𐍃 (hrains, “clean”), and English riddle. The Latin verb is related to recent.

noun/ɹɪns//ɹɛns/US, dated, regional
  1. The action of rinsing.

    I'll just give this knife a quick rinse.
  2. A liquid used to rinse, now particularly a hair dye.

    I had a henna rinse yesterday.
  3. The act of drawing water into a syringe for the purported purpose of cleaning it.

Where this word comes from

From Middle English rinsen, rincen, rencen (“to rinse”), from Old French rincier, reinser, Old Northern French raïncer (“to rinse, cleanse”). Of contested origin. Possibly from Old Norse hreinsa, from Proto-Germanic *hrainisōną (“to clean, purify”), from Proto-Indo-European *krey- (“to separate, divide”). Alternatively from a dissimilation of Old French recincier, from Latin recentare (“to make fresh”). Cognate with French rincer. From the Germanic verb are Danish rense, Norwegian rense, Swedish rensa (all “to clean”), Old High German reinisōn (“to clean, purify, atone”). It is related to German rein (“pure”), Gothic 𐌷𐍂𐌰𐌹𐌽𐍃 (hrains, “clean”), and English riddle. The Latin verb is related to recent.

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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.