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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

ripe.

Of a fruit, vegetable, seed, etc., ready for reaping or gathering; having attained perfection; mature.

4 characters1 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

adj/ɹaɪp/UK, US
  1. Of a fruit, vegetable, seed, etc., ready for reaping or gathering; having attained perfection; mature.

    ripe grain
    ripe apples
  2. Of a food, advanced to the state of fitness for use; mellow.

    ripe cheese
    ripe wine
  3. Having attained its full development; mature; perfected.

    figuratively
  4. Of a sore, tumor, etc., maturated or suppurated; ready to discharge.

    archaic
  5. Ready for action or effect; prepared.

  6. Of a person, ready, willing, eager.

    colloquial
  7. Like ripened fruit in ruddiness and plumpness.

  8. Intoxicated.

    obsolete
  9. Of a conflict between parties, having developed to a stage where the conflict may be reviewed by a court of law.

  10. Smelly: having a disagreeable odor.

Where this word comes from

From Middle English ripe, rype, from Old English rīpe (“ripe, mature”), from Proto-West Germanic *rīpī, from Proto-Germanic *rīpijaz, *rīpiz, from Proto-Indo-European *h₁reyb- (“to snatch”). Cognate with West Frisian ryp (“ripe”), Dutch rijp (“ripe”), German reif (“ripe”). Related to reap.

noun/ɹaɪp/UK, US
  1. A fruit or vegetable which has ripened.

Where this word comes from

From Middle English ripe, rype, from Old English rīpe (“ripe, mature”), from Proto-West Germanic *rīpī, from Proto-Germanic *rīpijaz, *rīpiz, from Proto-Indo-European *h₁reyb- (“to snatch”). Cognate with West Frisian ryp (“ripe”), Dutch rijp (“ripe”), German reif (“ripe”). Related to reap.

verb/ɹaɪp/UK, US
  1. To ripen or mature.

    intransitive
Where this word comes from

From Middle English ripe, rype, from Old English rīpe (“ripe, mature”), from Proto-West Germanic *rīpī, from Proto-Germanic *rīpijaz, *rīpiz, from Proto-Indo-European *h₁reyb- (“to snatch”). Cognate with West Frisian ryp (“ripe”), Dutch rijp (“ripe”), German reif (“ripe”). Related to reap.

noun/ɹaɪp/UK, US
  1. The bank of a river.

Where this word comes from

From Middle English ripe, from Latin ripa.

verb/ɹaɪp/UK, US
  1. To search; to rummage.

    obsolete · transitive
adj/ɹaɪp/UK, US
  1. Rife

    not-comparable · proscribed
Where this word comes from

An alteration of rife.

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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.