rich

UK/ˈɹɪt͡ʃ/US/ˈɹɪt͡ʃ/

adjectiveA15 meanings Very common — you will meet it every day · #499 of 15,258neutral

Other forms: richest, richer, riches

Rich means having a lot of money. The big house, the second car, the holiday booked without checking the balance first.

Food is rich when it is heavy with cream, butter, eggs or fat, so a rich chocolate cake is one you can only manage a small slice of. Soil is rich when everything planted in it grows, and a country can be rich IN oil, a report rich in detail. Colours and voices are rich when they are deep and full. The rich, as a group, takes a plural verb: the rich get richer. Riches means wealth and richness means the quality of being rich. One to listen for: said flatly, that's rich means the opposite of praise. It means the person complaining has a nerve.

Definitions of rich

1adjectiverichHaving a lot of money or property.A1
“Her uncle got rich selling gravel and never let anyone forget it.”
- Said"We're not rich, but we've never gone hungry either."
- WrittenThe richest man in the village still mended his own shoes.
- UsedDo not marry for the cash; rich people have moods too.
- ContrastRich, not poor. The poor count every coin; the rich have stopped counting. poor →
- Not thisA rich sauce has nothing to do with money. That is another meaning, from the kitchen.
Patternrich in + noun · get rich · the rich (plural noun) · rich and famous · a rich man / family
synonyms: wealthy, affluent
2adjectivefoodOf food: heavy with fat, cream, sugar or eggs.B1
“The sauce is too rich to eat much of.”
- Said"That cake's lovely, but it's too rich for me — just a small slice."
- WrittenThe sauce grew richer as the butter melted into it, thick and golden.
- UsedServe in small portions: this dessert is very rich.
- ContrastRich, not sweet. Sweet is sugar alone; rich is fat and eggs as well. sweet →
- Not thisA rich meal is not a healthy one. Food full of vitamins is nutritious — or rich in vitamins.
- SimplyThis food is very rich. Eat only a little.
Patternrich food / sauce / dessert · too rich · richer than · rich in + noun (another meaning)
3adjectivecontainingContaining a large amount of a good or useful thing.B1
“The valley soil is rich, and everything planted in it takes.”
4adjectivecolourOf a colour, sound or smell: deep and full.B2
“He has a rich low voice that carries to the back of the hall.”
5nounwealthyThe rich: wealthy people considered as a group.A2
“The rich have accountants; everyone else has forms.”

Too few real examples of this word to estimate which sense is commonest.

Also accepted in games: wealthy

Remember it

The old word meant powerful, and for most of history whoever was rich was powerful. Rich food is powerful too: so much sugar and fat that one small piece is enough.

hooks ontopowerful

Phrases it lives in

that's rich — Said when a complaint is unfair because the person making it is guilty of the same thing.
strike it rich — To become wealthy suddenly and by luck.

Also practised as

adjectiveOf food: heavy with fat, cream, sugar or eggs.

Where it comes from

Rich once had nothing to do with money. Old English rīċe meant powerful, mighty, high-ranking, from Proto-Germanic rīkijaz, kingly and powerful, which rests on rīks, a king or ruler, borrowed early from Celtic and going back to the Proto-Indo-European word for king. Old French riche pushed it along in the same direction. Power came first, and wealth came in behind it, which tells you something about how the two were seen.

Proto-Indo-European
*h₃reǵ-
Proto-Germanic
*rīkijaz — kingly, powerful, rich
Proto-West Germanic
*rīkī — powerful, rich
Old English
rīċe — powerful, mighty, great, high-ranking, rich, wealthy, strong, potent
Middle English
riche — strong, powerful, rich
English, today
rich

From Middle English riche (“strong, powerful, rich”), from Old English rīċe (“powerful, mighty, great, high-ranking, rich, wealthy, strong, potent”), from Proto-West Germanic rīkī (“powerful, rich”), from Proto-Germanic rīkijaz (“kingly, powerful, rich”), from Proto-Germanic rīks (“king, ruler”), an early borrowing from Proto-Celtic rīxs, from Proto-Indo-European h₃rḗǵs. Reinforced by Old French riche, from the same gmw - source. Cognate with Dutch rijk, German reich, Danish rig, Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk and Swedish rik, Faroese and Icelandic ríkur, Portuguese and Spanish rico, French riche, Italian ricco.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practised in Everyday Adjectives

Practise this word

rich in the wild

The occupation of mercery has a rich and complex history dating back over 1,000 years in what is now the United Kingdom.
Mercery
The rich history of Faysal Mosque in Islamabad, Pakistan.
Economy of Islamabad
Bengali poetry is a rich tradition of poetry in the Bengali language and has many different forms.
Bengali poetry
Poetry is the oldest form of literature and has a rich written and oral tradition.
Indian poetry
Burns goes bankrupt and asks Lisa to help him get rich again.
The Old Man and the Lisa

1 / 3

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.

From Project Gutenberg, public domain. These sentences are from real books, shown to illustrate the word at work.

Related words

Definitions of rich

1adjectiverichHaving a lot of money or property.A1

“Her uncle got rich selling gravel and never let anyone forget it.”

Said"We're not rich, but we've never gone hungry either."
WrittenThe richest man in the village still mended his own shoes.
UsedDo not marry for the cash; rich people have moods too.
ContrastRich, not poor. The poor count every coin; the rich have stopped counting. poor →
Not thisA rich sauce has nothing to do with money. That is another meaning, from the kitchen.

Patternrich in + noun · get rich · the rich (plural noun) · rich and famous · a rich man / family

synonyms: wealthy, affluent

2adjectivefoodOf food: heavy with fat, cream, sugar or eggs.B1

“The sauce is too rich to eat much of.”

Said"That cake's lovely, but it's too rich for me — just a small slice."
WrittenThe sauce grew richer as the butter melted into it, thick and golden.
UsedServe in small portions: this dessert is very rich.
ContrastRich, not sweet. Sweet is sugar alone; rich is fat and eggs as well. sweet →
Not thisA rich meal is not a healthy one. Food full of vitamins is nutritious — or rich in vitamins.
SimplyThis food is very rich. Eat only a little.

Patternrich food / sauce / dessert · too rich · richer than · rich in + noun (another meaning)

3adjectivecontainingContaining a large amount of a good or useful thing.B1

“The valley soil is rich, and everything planted in it takes.”

4adjectivecolourOf a colour, sound or smell: deep and full.B2

“He has a rich low voice that carries to the back of the hall.”

5nounwealthyThe rich: wealthy people considered as a group.A2

“The rich have accountants; everyone else has forms.”

Too few real examples of this word to estimate which sense is commonest.

Also accepted in games: wealthy