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rook²

(rk)

n. Abbr. R

A chess piece that may move in a straight line over any number of empty squares in a rank or file. Also called castle.

[Middle English, from Old French roc, from Arabic ruḫḫ, from Persian ruḫ, from Middle Persian rox, ultimately from Middle Indic rahu, raho, nominative of raha- raha-, chariot, from Prakrit ratha-, from Sanskrit rathaḥ (the original form of the rook in the early chess of India being a chariot); see ret- in the Appendix of Indo-European roots.]

Indo-European & Semitic Roots Appendices

Thousands of entries in the dictionary include etymologies that trace their origins back to reconstructed proto-languages. You can obtain more information about these forms in our online appendices:

Indo-European Roots

Semitic Roots

The Indo-European appendix covers nearly half of the Indo-European roots that have left their mark on English words. A more complete treatment of Indo-European roots and the English words derived from them is available in our Dictionary of Indo-European Roots.

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