row

See also: Row, ROW, and rów

Translingual

Etymology

Clipping of English Rote with w as a placeholder.

Symbol

row

  1. (international standards) ISO 639-3 language code for Dela-Oenale.

See also

English

Etymology 1

Etymology tree
Proto-Indo-European *Hreyk-
Proto-Indo-European *-ō
Proto-Indo-European *Hréykō
Proto-Germanic *rīgǭder.
Proto-Germanic *raigwō
Proto-Germanic *raiwō
Proto-West Germanic *raiwu
Old English rǣw
Middle English rewe
English row

    From Middle English rewe, rowe, rawe, from Old English rǣw, rāw, probably from Proto-Germanic *raiwō, *rīgǭ (“row, streak, line”), from Proto-Indo-European *Hreyk- (“to carve, scratch, etch”).

    Cognate with Scots raw (“row”), dialectal Norwegian rå (“boundary line”), Saterland Frisian Riege (“row”), West Frisian rige (“row”), Dutch rij (“row, line”), German Low German Reeg, Riege, Rieg (“row”), German Reihe (“row”), German Riege (“sports team”).

    Alternative forms

    • rew (dialectal)

    Pronunciation

    Noun

    row (plural rows)

    1. A line of objects, often regularly spaced, such as seats in a theatre, vegetable plants in a garden, etc.
      1. Specifically, a line of buildings on a street; also, the street itself (especially in street names)
    2. A horizontal line of entries in a table, etc., going from left to right, as opposed to a column going from top to bottom.
      Antonym: column
    3. (slang, chiefly in the plural) Clipping of cornrow.
      • 2006, Noire [pseudonym], Thug-A-Licious: An Urban Erotic Tale, New York, N.Y.: One World, Ballantine Books, →ISBN, page 25:
        Vyreen had just finished braiding my hair, and his call had caught me coming out of her crib with my 'rows looking tight.
      • 2015 October 22, Stefan Bondy, “Kristaps Porzingis had cornrows as a kid because 'all the girls loved it'”, in New York Daily News‎[1], New York, N.Y.: Daily News L.P., →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 18 January 2022:
        If you thought it'd be hard to get a good cornrow braiding in Latvia, think again. Porzingis said he was re-braided almost every week to keep his rows fresh.
    Synonyms
    Derived terms
    Translations

    Etymology 2

    From Middle English rowen (“to row”), from Old English rōwan (“to row”), from Proto-Germanic *rōaną (“to row”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₁reh₁- (“to row”). Compare West Frisian roeie, Dutch roeien, Danish ro. More at rudder. Related to Russia.

    Verb

    row (third-person singular simple present rows, present participle rowing, simple past and past participle rowed)

    A boy rowing a boat in Uganda (1)
    1. (transitive or intransitive, nautical) To propel (a boat or other craft) over water using oars.
      Synonym: paddle
    2. (transitive) To transport in a boat propelled with oars.
      to row the captain ashore in his barge
    3. (intransitive) To be moved by oars.
      The boat rows easily.
    Derived terms
    Translations
    The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
    Translations to be checked

    Noun

    row (plural rows)

    1. An act or instance of rowing.
      I went for an early-morning row.
    3. (weightlifting) Any of several thematically similar exercise movements performed with a pulling motion of the arms towards the back.
      Hyponyms: bench pull, Chinese row, inverted row, renegade row, seal row
    Translations

    Etymology 3

    Unclear; some suggest it is a back-formation from rouse, verb.

    Pronunciation

    • enPR: rou, IPA(key): /ɹaʊ/
    • Audio (US):(file)
    • Rhymes: -aʊ

    Noun

    row (plural rows)

    2. (UK) A noisy argument.
      Synonyms: argument, disturbance, fight, fracas, quarrel, shouting match, slanging match
      There was a row among the oarsmen about how to row.
      • 1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XXII, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:
        In the autumn there was a row at some cement works about the unskilled labour men. A union had just been started for them and all but a few joined. One of these blacklegs was laid for by a picket and knocked out of time.
      • 1923 May 17, P[elham] G[renville] Wodehouse, “(please specify the page)”, in The Inimitable Jeeves, London: Herbert Jenkins, →OCLC:
        As a rule, you see, I'm not lugged into Family Rows. On the occasions when Aunt is calling to Aunt like mastodons bellowing across primeval swamps and Uncle James's letter about Cousin Mabel's peculiar behaviour is being shot round the family circle... the clan has a tendency to ignore me.
      • 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 18, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC:
        ‘Then the father has a great fight with his terrible conscience,’ said Munday with granite seriousness. ‘Should he make a row with the police […] ? Or should he say nothing about it and condone brutality for fear of appearing in the newspapers?
      • 1991, Stephen Fry, The Liar, page 27:
        […] he wrote to me last week telling me about an incredible bitch of a row blazing there on account of someone having been and gone and produced an unofficial magazine called Raddled, full of obscene libellous Oz-like filth. And what I though, what Sammy and I thought, was—why not?
      • 2025 April 24, Sammi Awami, “Tanzania bans South Africa and Malawi imports as trade row escalates”, in BBC‎[2], archived from the original on 7 July 2026:
        The row comes at a time when Africa is supposed to be moving towards greater free trade through the establishment of a continent-wide free-trade area, which began operating four years ago.
    3. (UK) A continual loud noise.
      Synonyms: din, racket
      Who's making that row?
    Derived terms
    Translations
    The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
    Translations to be checked

    Verb

    row (third-person singular simple present rows, present participle rowing, simple past and past participle rowed)

    2. (intransitive) To argue noisily.
      Synonyms: argue, fight
    Translations
    The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
    Translations to be checked‌: "intransitive: argue noisily"

    Anagrams

    Lower Sorbian

    row

    Etymology

    From Proto-Slavic *rovъ. Cognate with Upper Sorbian row, Polish rów (“ditch”), Czech rov, Russian ров (rov, “ditch”), Old Church Slavonic ровъ (rovŭ, “ditch”).

    Pronunciation

    • IPA(key): /rɔw/, [row]

    Noun

    row m inan (diminutive rowk)

    1. grave

    Declension

    Declension of row
    singular dual plural
    nominative row rowa rowy
    genitive rowa rowowu rowow
    dative rowoju rowoma rowam
    accusative row rowa rowy
    instrumental rowom rowoma rowami
    locative rowje rowoma rowach

    Further reading

    • Muka, Arnošt (1921, 1928), “row”, in Słownik dolnoserbskeje rěcy a jeje narěcow (in German), St. Petersburg, Prague: ОРЯС РАН, ČAVU; Reprinted Bautzen: Domowina-Verlag, 2008
    • Starosta, Manfred (1999), “row”, in Dolnoserbsko-nimski słownik / Niedersorbisch-deutsches Wörterbuch (in German), Bautzen: Domowina-Verlag

    Manx

    Pronunciation

    • IPA(key): /rau/

    Verb

    row

    1. past dependent of ve
      Row ee ayns shoh?
      Was she here?
      Cha row mee drappal billey marish.
      I was not climbing a tree with him.
      Nagh row Paaie feer doaieagh?
      Wasn't Paaie very decent?

    Usage notes

    Contracts with personal pronoun in r'ou.

    Old English

    Alternative forms

    Etymology

    From Proto-West Germanic *rōu (“calm, rest”).

    Pronunciation

    • IPA(key): /roːw/
    • Rhymes: -oːw

    Noun

    rōw f

    1. quiet, rest, calm

    Declension

    Strong ō-stem:

    singular plural
    nominative rōw rōwa, rōwe
    accusative rōwe rōwa, rōwe
    genitive rōwe rōwa
    dative rōwe rōwum

    Descendants

    • Middle English: ro, roo, rou, rowe, ruf, rufe, ruff (Early Scots)
      • English: roo
      • Middle Scots: rufe, ruve

    Further reading

    Scots

    Noun

    row (plural rows)

    1. roll

    Derived terms

    • row-cloth: a folding cloak of warm cloth

    Upper Sorbian

    Etymology

    Inherited from Proto-Slavic *rovъ. Cognate with Lower Sorbian row.

    Pronunciation

    • IPA(key): /ˈʀɔw/
    • Rhymes: -ɔw
    • Syllabification: row

    Noun

    row m inan (relational adjective rowowy or rowny, diminutive rowk or rowčk)

    1. grave

    Declension

    Declension of row (masculine hard stem)
    singular dual plural
    nominative row rowaj rowy
    genitive rowa rowow rowow
    dative rowej, rowu rowomaj rowam
    accusative row rowaj rowy
    instrumental rowom rowomaj rowami
    locative rowje rowomaj rowach
    vocative rowo, rowje rowaj rowy

    Derived terms

    nouns
    • rowar m inan

    Further reading

    • Křesćan Pful, editor (1866), “row”, in Łužiski serbski słownik / Lausitzisch Wendisches Wörterbuch‎[3] (in German), Budyšin: Maćica Serbska, page 592
    • “row”, in Mudra corpus [Upper Sorbian–Czech dictionary] (in Czech), 2024–2026
    • “row” in Soblex

    Vilamovian

    row (1)
    row (2)

    Pronunciation

    • Audio:(file)

    Noun

    rōw f (plural rowa)

    1. rook (bird)
    2. raven
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