Other forms: rapes
Rape is the crime of forcing somebody into sex. Convicted of rape, report a rape, rape crisis centre.
Consent is the centre of the modern legal definition, and the law in most countries has moved from asking whether the victim resisted to asking whether they agreed freely. It is heavily under-reported, and most cases involve somebody the victim knows rather than a stranger. Support services exist and are confidential.
1nounrapeThe crime of forcing somebody into sex.
“The man was found guilty of rape and sent to prison for ten years.”
rape is a crime.
Middle English rapen probably comes from Latin rapere, to seize. Rapid, rapture and ravish come from the same seizing.
Middle English
rappen
English, today
rape
Built from
From Middle English rappen. From Middle English rapen, rappen (“to abduct; ravish; seduce; rape; seize; snatch; carry off; transport”), probably from Latin rapiō (verb), possibly through or influenced by Anglo-Norman - rap, rape (noun) (compare also ravish). But compare Swedish rappa (“to snatch, seize, carry off”), Low German rapen (“to snatch, seize”), Dutch rapen (“to pick up, gather, collect”); the relationship with Germanic forms is not clear. Cognate with Lithuanian reikėti (“to be in need”). Compare also rap (“seize, snatch”). Further, some senses may be from rape, an Old Norse word.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA