Wiktionary

Richard

See also: Richárd and richard

English

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English Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia

Pronunciation

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Etymology 1

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Etymology tree
Proto-Indo-European *h₃reǵ-
Proto-Indo-European *-s
Proto-Indo-European *h₃rḗǵs
Proto-Celtic *rīxsbor.
Proto-Germanic *rīks
Proto-West Germanic *rīk
Proto-Indo-European *kret-der.?
Proto-Germanic *harduz
Proto-Germanic *-jaz
Proto-West Germanic *-ī
Proto-West Germanic *hardu
Proto-West Germanic *Rīkuhardu
Old High German Rihhart
Middle High German Rihardbor.
Medieval Latin Richardusder.
Old French Richardbor.
Middle English Rycharde
English Richard

    From Middle English Rycharde, from Old French Richard, from Medieval Latin Richardus, Ricohardus, from Frankish *Rīkahard, from Proto-Germanic *Rīkaharduz, a construction of *rīks (“king, ruler”) +‎ *harduz (“hard, brave”). Cognate with Old High German Rīcohard (“Richard”). Unrelated to rich.

    A hypothetical Old English equivalent *Rī‌ċheard would also yield an identical "Richard" in Modern English, though it is unknown if the Old English equivalent existed.

    Proper noun

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    Richard (plural Richards)

    1. A male given name from the Germanic languages.
      • c. 1593 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedy of Richard the Third: […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene ii]:
        What! do I fear myself? there's no one else by; / Richard loves Richard; that is, I am I.
      • 1629, Thomas Adams, Meditations upon Creed: The Works of Thomas Adams, James Nichol (1862), volume 3, page 212:
        But we have known Williams and Richards, names not found in sacred story, but familiar to our country, prove as gracious saints as any Safe deliverance, Fight the good fight of faith, or such like,
      • 1985, William Wharton, Pride, →ISBN, page 97:
        I'd love to live in our castle. First I'd change my name from Dickie to Richard. That's my real name and it's a good king name. I don't like being called Dickie anyway, and I don't want to be Dick Junior either because everybody starts calling you Junior. What I'd like to be called is Rich but I don't know how to start people doing it.
      • 2009 September, Eldon Chéze, JEFFREY LIONEL DAHMER: A PSYCHOBIOGRAPHICAL STUDY‎[1], archived from the original on 9 December 2025, page 121:
        Two months later, on March 24, 1988, Jeffrey met Richard Guerrero in the doorway of the Phoenix Bar (Davis, 1995; Masters, 1993).
      • 2023 May 24, Sandee LaMotte, “Can a daily multivitamin slow cognitive aging? Maybe”, in CNN‎[2]:
        While the less-than-a-word improvement was statistically significant, it would be hard to tell if such a small change would improve a person’s life, said Alzheimer’s disease researcher Dr. Richard Isaacson, a preventive neurologist at the Institute for Neurodegenerative Diseases of Florida.
    2. A surname originating as a patronymic.
      Martin Richard was the youngest of three people killed by explosions at the Boston Marathon in 2013.
    Derived terms
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    diminutives
    surnames
    Translations
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    Etymology 2

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      Clipping of Richard III.

      Noun

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      Richard (plural Richards)

      1. (Cockney rhyming slang, mildly vulgar) A turd.

      Further reading

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      • “Richard”, in Merriam-Webster.com Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.
      • “Richard”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

      Cebuano

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      Etymology

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      From English Richard, from Middle English Rycharde, from Old French Richard, from Medieval Latin Richardus and Ricohardus, from Frankish *Rīkahard, from Proto-Germanic *Rīkaharduz, a construction of *rīks (“king, ruler”) +‎ *harduz (“hard, brave”).

      Proper noun

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      Richard

      1. a male given name from English [in turn from the Germanic languages]
        • 2010 — Maningo, Alcea, Ang Nitugpa sa Atop (04 November), Sugilanon, Kalingawan, Banat News
          Daw may usa ka bloke nga hollowblock nga nahulog gikan sa panganod ug nitugpa sa sin nga atop sa tindahan. Nakurat ang lima ka mga estambay sa tindahan. Daling nanindog sila si Alex Tudtud, Richard Dagoc, Jomar Suprema, Romeo Brusas ug Jerome Bertes.
          (please add an English translation of this quotation)
        • 2011 April 4, Tubilan, Joseph Elvir C, “Way Nakakita”, in SuperBalita Cebu:
          Si Richard Ian Bruce Bansuan, testigo sa Task Force Ella Joy, nihisgot sa korte kagahapon sa gihimong husay sa motion to quash search warrant nga nakit-an niya ang langyaw dihang nagmaneho siya sa motorsiklo kuyog si Ligaya Escultos.
          (please add an English translation of this quotation)
        • 2012 — Suarez, Lloyd, Pamutos na Lang, Warden Manansala (13 June), Super Hirit, Cebu Daily News
          Pagkabakakon gyud ni Richard Cabornay Baculi kinsa maoy nagmaneho sa motorsiklo nga “Yamaha Meo” nga maoy ilang gisakyan uban sa iyang ig-agaw nga napatay ni PO2 Lea Juarez nga si Rael Alex Tajanlangit Cabornay alias “Nano” gikan nga mitulis ni Reychel Alvizo Juntar.
          (please add an English translation of this quotation)

      Chinese

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      Etymology

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      From English Richard, which resembles the pronunciation of 碌柒 (luk1 cat6, “dickhead; idiot”). Probably popularised by The God of Cookery (quoted below).

      Pronunciation

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      Noun

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      Richard

      1. (Hong Kong Cantonese, minced oath, euphemistic) synonym of 碌柒

      Czech

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      Czech Wikipedia has an article on:
      Wikipedia cs

      Pronunciation

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      • (Czech Republic) IPA(key): [ˈrɪxart]

      Proper noun

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      Richard m anim

      1. a male given name, equivalent to English Richard

      Declension

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      Declension of Richard (hard masculine animate)
      singular plural
      nominative Richard Richardové
      genitive Richarda Richardů
      dative Richardovi, Richardu Richardům
      accusative Richarda Richardy
      vocative Richarde Richardové
      locative Richardovi, Richardu Richardech
      instrumental Richardem Richardy
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      Danish

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      Proper noun

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      Richard

      1. a male given name, equivalent to English Richard

      Estonian

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      Proper noun

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      Richard

      1. a male given name, equivalent to English Richard
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      French

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      Pronunciation

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      • IPA(key): /ʁi.ʃaʁ/
      • Audio:(file)
      • Audio; “chapelle Saint-Sixte de Puy-Richard”:(file)

      Proper noun

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      Richard m

      1. a male given name, equivalent to English Richard
      2. a surname originating as a patronymic

      German

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      Pronunciation

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      Proper noun

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      Richard

      1. a male given name, equivalent to English Richard

      Kashubian

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      Etymology

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      Etymology tree
      German Richardbor.
      Kashubian Richard

        Borrowed from German Richard.

        Pronunciation

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        • IPA(key): /ˈri.xart/
        • Rhymes: -ixart
        • Syllabification: Ri‧chard

        Proper noun

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        Richard m pers

        1. a male given name, equivalent to English Richard

        Further reading

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        • Jan Trepczyk (1994), “Ryszard”, in Słownik polsko-kaszubski (in Kashubian), volumes 1–2
        • Eùgeniusz Gòłąbk (2011), “Ryszard”, in Słownik Polsko-Kaszubski / Słowôrz Pòlskò-Kaszëbsczi‎[3]

        Norwegian

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        Proper noun

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        Richard

        1. a male given name, the usual modern form of Rikard

        Occitan

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        Proper noun

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        Richard m (Limousin)

        1. a male given name

        Further reading

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        • Yves Lavalade (2010), Dictionnaire d'usage occitan/français - Limousin, Marche, Périgord (in French), Institut d'Estudis Occitans dau Lemosin, →ISBN; page 496

        Slovak

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        Pronunciation

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        Proper noun

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        Richard m pers

        1. a male given name, equivalent to English Richard

        Declension

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        Declension of Richard
        (pattern chlap)
        singularplural
        nominativeRichardRichardovia
        genitiveRichardaRichardov
        dativeRichardoviRichardom
        accusativeRichardaRichardov
        locativeRichardoviRichardoch
        instrumentalRichardomRichardmi

        Derived terms

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        Further reading

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        • “Richard”, in Slovníkový portál Jazykovedného ústavu Ľ. Štúra SAV [Dictionary portal of the Ľ. Štúr Institute of Linguistics, Slovak Academy of Science] (in Slovak), https://slovnik.juls.savba.sk, 2003–2026

        Spanish

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        Etymology

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        Unadapted borrowing from English Richard. Doublet of Ricardo.

        Pronunciation

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        • IPA(key): /ˈrit͡ʃaɾd/ [ˈri.t͡ʃaɾð̞]
        • IPA(key): /ɹɪt͡ʃɚd/ [ɹɪt͡ʃɚð̞]
        • Syllabification: Ri‧chard

        Proper noun

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        Richard m

        1. a male given name from English

        Swedish

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        Pronunciation

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        Proper noun

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        Richard c (genitive Richards)

        1. a male given name, an English and French type variant of Rikard

        References

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        • [4] Statistiska centralbyrån and Sture Allén, Staffan Wåhlin, Förnamnsboken, Norstedts 1995, →ISBN: 17 105 males with the given name Richard (compared to 10 124 named Rikard and 22 341 named Rickard) living in Sweden on December 31st, 2010, with the frequency peak in the 1980s. Accessed on 19 June 2011.
        Retrieved from "https://en.wiktionary.org/w/index.php?title=Richard&oldid=90781631"