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raffle

UK/ˈɹæfl̩/US/ˈɹæfl̩/
nounB2Common in everyday speech and writing · #6,268 of 15,258leans spoken

Other forms: raffles

A raffle is a draw in which numbered tickets win prizes. Buy a raffle ticket, win the raffle, hold a raffle.

In Britain a small raffle at an event is exempt from gambling law, which is why school fairs can run one without a licence. It differs from a lottery mainly in scale and in the prizes being goods. The Old French word named a dice game.

Artaxerxes · CC BY-SA 3.0

Definitions of raffle

  1. 1nounraffleA draw in which numbered tickets win prizes.B2

    “I won a bottle of wine in the school raffle.”

raffle is a draw.

Where it comes from

Old French raffle names a dice game, from rafler, to snatch or carry off.

  1. Proto-Indo-European

    *(s)kreb(h)-

  2. Proto-Germanic

    *hrapōną

  3. Frankish

    *raffolōn

  4. Old French

    rafle

  5. Middle English

    rafle

  6. English, today

    raffle

Built from

  • raffle · Old French — dice game", also "plundering
  • rafler · Old French — to snatch, seize, carry off
  • *hrēpōną · Proto-Germanic — to scratch, touch, pluck out, snatch
  • *(s)kerb(h)- · Proto-Indo-European — to turn, bend, shrink

From Middle English rafle, from Old French rafle, raffle (“dice game", also "plundering”), from rafler (“to snatch, seize, carry off”), from Frankish raffolōn, from Proto-Germanic hrapōną, hrēpōną (“to scratch, touch, pluck out, snatch”), from Proto-Indo-European (s)kreb(h)-, (s)kerb(h)- (“to turn, bend, shrink”), from Proto-Indo-European (s)ker- (“to turn, bend”). Cognate with Middle Dutch raffel (“dice game”), German raffen (“to snatch away, sweep off”), Old English hreppan (“to touch, treat, attack”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practised in Games & Toys

Practise this word

raffle in the wild

  • A raffle is a gambling competition in which people obtain numbered tickets, each of which has an equal chance of winning a prize.

    Raffle

  • The raffle is a popular game in many countries, and is often held to raise funds for a specific charity or event.

    Raffle

  • A meat raffle is also sometimes called a meat draw.

    Meat raffle

  • An Australian variant of the meat raffle is the chook raffle, where a chicken is raffled off.

    Meat raffle

  • Chook raffle is an Australian tradition of "raffling off", often in clubs or pubs, a "chook", which is an Australian slang term for a chicken.

    Chook raffle

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From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.