raven

See also: Raven and räven

English

Etymology 1

A raven (bird).

From Middle English raven, reven, from Old English hræfn, from Proto-West Germanic *hrabn, from Proto-Germanic *hrabnaz (“raven”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱrep-, from Proto-Indo-European *ḱer- (“to croak, crow”).

Pronunciation

• enPR: rāʹvən, IPA^(key): /ˈɹeɪvən/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪvən

Noun

raven (countable and uncountable, plural ravens)

1. (countable) Any of several, generally large and lustrous black species of birds in the genus Corvus, especially the common raven, Corvus corax.
   • c. 1588–1593 (date written), [William Shakespeare], The Most Lamentable Romaine Tragedie of Titus Andronicus: […] (First Quarto), London: […] Iohn Danter, and are to be sold by Edward White & Thomas Millington, […], published 1594, →OCLC, [Act II, scene iii]:

     Some ſay that Rauens foſter forlorne children, / The whilſt their owne birds famiſh in their neſts: / Oh be to me though thy hard hart ſay no, / Nothing ſo kinde but ſomething pittiful.

2. A jet-black colour.

   raven:  

   • 1859, Ferna Vale, Natalie; or, A Gem Among the Sea-Weeds:

     A lone man walks the shores of Nantucket; his noble form is slightly bent, and with the raven of his hair is blended the faintest tinge of gray, though he is evidently a man to whom the meridian of life is yet far in the distance […]

Derived terms

• Australian raven (Corvus coronoides)
• brown-necked raven (Corvus ruficollis)
• Chatham raven (Corvus moriorum)
• Chihuahuan raven (Corvus cryptoleucus)
• common raven (Corvus corax)
• dwarf raven (Corvus edithae)
• fan-tailed raven (Corvus rhipidurus)
• forest raven (Corvus tasmanicus)
• Icelandic raven
• little raven (Corvus mellori)
• night-raven
• New Zealand raven (Corvus antipodum)
• northern raven (Corvus corax)
• pied raven
• raven-messenger
• raven paradox
• relict raven (Corvus tasmanicus boreus)
• sea raven
• Somali raven (Corvus edithae)
• Tasmanian raven (Corvus tasmanicus)
• thick-billed raven (Corvus crassirostris)
• western raven (Corvus corax sinuatus)
• white-necked raven (Corvus albicollis)

Translations

bird

• Adyghe: къолэжъ (qʷolɛẑ), цунды (cʷundə)
• Afrikaans: kraai (af)
• Albanian: korb (sq) m
• Arabic: غُرَاب m (ḡurāb), زَاغ m (zāḡ)

  Egyptian Arabic: غراب m (ḡurāb)

  Moroccan Arabic: غراب m (ḡurāb)

• Armenian: ագռավ (hy) (agṙav)
• Aromanian: corbu m
• Assamese: ঢোঁৰাকাউৰী (dhü̃rakauri)
• Asturian: cuervu (ast) m
• Avar: чӏегӏергъеду (čʼeʻerğedu), нухъа (nuqxa)
• Azerbaijani: quzğun (az)
• Bashkir: ҡоҙғон (qoźğon)
• Basque: erroi (eu)
• Belarusian: крумка́ч m (krumkáč), во́ран m (vóran)
• Breton: bran (br) m, marc'hvran (br) m
• Bulgarian: га́рван (bg) m (gárvan)
• Catalan: corb (ca) m
• Chechen: хьаргӏа (ḥʳarğa)
• Cherokee: ᎪᎳᏅ (golanv)
• Chichewa: khungubwi
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 烏鴉／乌鸦 (zh) (wūyā), 渡鴉／渡鸦 (zh) (dùyā)

• Coptic: ⲁⲃⲱⲕ m (abōk) (Bohairic)
• Cornish: bran vras f
• Czech: krkavec (cs) m
• Danish: ravn (da) c
• Dutch: raaf (nl) m
• Early Assamese: ঢোণ্ডাকাউৰ (ḍhöṇḍakauro), ঢোণ্ডাকাক (ḍhöṇḍakako)
• Elfdalian: kuorp m
• Esperanto: korvo (eo), korako (eo)
• Estonian: kaaren, ronk (et), korp
• Even: олиндьа (olinʒa)
• Ewe: akpaviã
• Faroese: ravnur (fo) m, krunkur m, gorpur m
• Finnish: korppi (fi), kaarne (fi)
• French: grand corbeau (fr) m
• Friulian: corvat m
• Galician: corvo carnazal (gl) m, corvo (gl) m
• Georgian: ყორანი (q̇orani)
• German: Rabe (de) m, Kolkrabe (de) m
• Greek: κόρακας (el) m (kórakas), κοράκι (el) n (koráki)

  Ancient: κόραξ m (kórax)

• Greenlandic: tulugaq
• Haida: x̱uuya
• Halkomelem: skwówéls

  Vancouver Island: spaal'

• Hebrew: עורב (he) ('orév), עורב שחור m ('orév shakhór)
• Hindi: काला कौआ m (kālā kauā)
• Hungarian: holló (hu)
• Icelandic: hrafn (is) m, krummi (is) m
• Indonesian: gagak besar
• Ingrian: kronni
• Ingush: хьаргӏа (ḥʳarğa)
• Irish: fiach m, fiach dubh m, bran m (literary)

  Old Irish: bran m, fïach m, trogan m

• Italian: corvo imperiale m
• Japanese: 渡り鴉 (ja) (ワタリガラス, watarigarasu), 大鴉 (オオガラス, ōgarasu)
• Javanese: gagak (jv)
• Kabardian: вынд (kbd) (vənd)
• Kannada: ಕಾರ್ಗೊರಲಕಾಗೆ (kārgoralakāge)
• Karachay-Balkar: къузгъун (quzğun)
• Karakalpak: gʼargʼa, qargʼa
• Karok: xutnásak
• Khakas: харға (xarğa)
• Korean: 큰까마귀 (keunkkamagwi)
• Kumyk: къузгъун (quzğun)
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: داڵ (dall)

• Kwak'wala: ǥwa'wina
• Kyrgyz: карга (ky) (karga), кузгун (ky) (kuzgun)
• Ladin: corf ?
• Latgalian: krauklis m
• Latin: corvus m
• Latvian: krauklis m
• Lithuanian: kranklys (lt) m
• Low German:

  German Low German: Raav (nds) f, Roov (nds) f, Raw m

• Lushootseed: qaw'qs
• Luxembourgish: Ramm f
• Macedonian: га́вран m (gávran)
• Malay: please add this translation if you can
• Maltese: għorab m
• Manx: feeagh m, feeagh mooar m
• Maore Comorian: kwai class 5/6
• Marathi: डोमेकाव्ळा (ḍomekāvḷā)
• Mari:

  Eastern Mari: курныж (kurnyž)

• Mi'kmaq: gjiga'qaquj anim
• Mongolian: хар хэрээ (xar xeree)
• Montagnais: kakatshu
• Moroccan Amazigh: ⴰⵄⴽⴽⴰⵢ m (aɛkkay)
• Nahuatl: cacalotl (nah)
• Nanai: холи (holi)
• Nanticoke: uck-quack
• Navajo: zhį́ʼii
• Nogai: карга (karga)
• Northern Mansi: ^{(please verify)} хулах (hulah)
• Norwegian: ravn (no) m
• Occitan: còrb (oc) m
• Ojibwe: gaagaagi
• Old Church Slavonic: вранъ m (vranŭ)
• Old English: hræfn m
• Old Norse: hrafn m, korpr m
• Old Turkic: 𐰴𐰆𐰕𐰍𐰆𐰣 (quzǧun¹ /⁠quzɣun⁠/)
• Ottoman Turkish: قوزغون (kuzgun)
• Persian: زاغ (fa) (zâğ), کلاغ (fa) (kalâğ), غراب (fa) (ğorâb)
• Plautdietsch: Rowen n
• Polish: kruk (pl) m anim
• Portuguese: corvo (pt) m
• Proto-Norse: ᚺᚨᚱᚨᛒᚨᚾᚨᛉ m (harabanaʀ)
• Romani: kakarachi m, kakarachka f
• Romanian: corb (ro) m
• Romansch: corv grond m
• Russian: во́рон (ru) m (vóron)
• Sami:

  Inari Sami: káránâs

  Kildin Sami: ка̄рьнэсь (kār’nes’)

  Lule Sami: runnka, gárránis, gárjjá

  Northern Sami: gáranas, bulddogas, garjá

  Skolt Sami: käärnõs

  Southern Sami: gaarenasse, krungke

• Sardinian: corbu ?, crobu m, corvu ?, colbu ?, colvu ?
• Scots: corbie
• Scottish Gaelic: fitheach m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: га̏вра̄н f

  Roman: gȁvrān (sh) f

• Shor: қусқун (qusqun)
• Sicilian: corvu (scn) m, corbu (scn) m
• Slovak: krkavec m
• Slovene: krokar (sl) m, vran (sl) m (poetic)
• Sorbian:

  Lower Sorbian: wron m, grampak m

  Upper Sorbian: rapak m

• Southern Altai: кускун (kuskun)
• Spanish: cuervo (es) m
• Swahili: kunguru (sw) class 9/10
• Swedish: korp (sv) c
• Tajik: зоғ (tg) (zoġ)
• Tashelhit: ⴰⴽⴰⵢⵢⴰ m (akayya)
• Tatar: козгын (tt) (qozgın)
• Thai: นกเรเวน
• Tibetan: ཀ་ཀ (ka ka), ཀ་གཉིས་པ (ka gnyis pa), བྱ་རོག (bya rog), ཁྭ (khwa)
• Tlingit: yéil
• Tofa: ӄусӄун (qusqun)
• Tundra Nenets: хӑрна (xărna)
• Turkish: kuzgun (tr)
• Tuvan: кускун (kuskun)
• Ukrainian: во́рон m (vóron), крук m (kruk)
• Unami: winkeòhkwèt
• Urum: хузғун, ғузғу, хузғум
• Uyghur: قۇزغۇن (quzghun)
• Uzbek: quzgʻun (uz)
• Venetian: corvo m, corf m
• Vilamovian: rōw f
• Volapük: rab (vo)
• Votic: rõnkõ
• Walloon: coirbå (wa)
• Welsh: brân (cy) f, cigfran f
• West Frisian: raven c
• White Hmong: tus noog uab lag, tus uab lag
• Yakut: суор (suor)
• Yiddish: ראָב (rob)
• Zhuang: please add this translation if you can

Adjective

raven (not comparable)

1. Of the color of the raven; jet-black.

   raven curls

   raven darkness

   She was a tall, sophisticated, raven-haired beauty.

Derived terms

terms derived from raven

• nonraven
• raven-black
• raven-haired
• ravenhood
• raven standard

Translations

of the color of the raven; jet-black

• Bulgarian: гарванов (garvanov)
• Dutch: ravenzwart (nl)
• Esperanto: korva (eo)
• Finnish: korpinmusta
• French: noir corbeau (fr)
• German: rabenschwarz (de)
• Greek: κορακίσιος (korakísios), κορακί (korakí)

  Ancient: κοράκινος (korákinos)

• Hungarian: hollófekete (hu)
• Italian: corvino (it)
• Norwegian: ravnsort, ravnsvart
• Polish: kruczy (pl), kruczoczarny (pl)
• Romanian: corbiu (ro)
• Swedish: korpsvart (sv), ramsvart (sv)
• Volapük: rabablägik

Etymology 2

From Middle English ravene, ravine, from Old French raviner (“rush, seize by force”), itself from ravine (“rapine”), from Latin rapīna (“plundering, loot”), itself from rapere (“seize, plunder, abduct”).

Alternative forms

• ravin, ravine

Pronunciation

• enPR: răvʹən, IPA^(key): /ˈɹævən/

  • Audio (Southern England)

    (file)

• Rhymes: -ævən

Noun

raven (uncountable)

1. Rapine; rapacity.
2. Prey; plunder; food obtained by violence.

Translations

rapine; rapacity

• Finnish: ryöstö (fi)
• Portuguese: rapina (pt) f, voraz (pt) m or f
• Romanian: rapacitate (ro) f

prey; plunder; food obtained by violence

• Bulgarian: плячкосване (bg) n (pljačkosvane)
• Finnish: saalis (fi)
• German: Beute (de) f
• Romanian: pradă (ro) f

Verb

raven (third-person singular simple present ravens, present participle ravening, simple past and past participle ravened)

1. (transitive, archaic) To obtain or seize by violence.
2. (transitive) To devour with great eagerness.
   • 1905, Lord Dunsany [i.e., Edward Plunkett, 18th Baron of Dunsany], The Gods of Pegāna, London: [Charles] Elkin Mathews, […], →OCLC, page 93:

     And the hound Time, when all the Worlds and cities are swept away whereon he used to raven, having no more to devour, shall suddenly die.

   • 1938, P.G. Woodhouse, The Code of the Woosters:

     I refer to the danger of keeping a dog of this nature and disposition in a bedroom, where it can spring out ravening on anyone who enters.

3. (transitive) To prey on with rapacity.

   The raven is both a scavenger, who ravens a dead animal almost like a vulture, and a bird of prey, who commonly ravens to catch a rodent.

4. (intransitive) To show rapacity; to be greedy (for something).
   • 1587, Leonard Mascall, “The nature and qualities of hogges, and also the gouernement thereof”, in The First Booke of Cattell‎^[1], London:

     […] because hogs are commonly rauening for their meat, more then other cattel, it is meet therefore to haue them ringed, or else they wil doe much hurt in digging and turning vp corne fieldes […]

   • 1852, Elizabeth Gaskell, “The Old Nurse’s Story”, in The Old Nurse’s Story and Other Tales‎^[2]:

     They passed along towards the great hall-door, where the winds howled and ravened for their prey […]

   • 1865, Sabine Baring-Gould, chapter 8, in The Book of Were-Wolves‎^[3], London: Smith, Elder & Co., page 114:

     The Greek were-wolf is closely related to the vampire. The lycanthropist falls into a cataleptic trance, during which his soul leaves his body, enters that of a wolf and ravens for blood.

   • 1931, James B. Fagan, The Improper Duchess‎^[4], London: Victor Gollancz, published 1932, act 3, page 237:

     On one side the great temple where you can gather the good harvest—on the other a dirty little scandal that you’ve nosed out to fling to paper scavengers who feed it to their readin’ millions ravening for pornographic dirt.

Related terms

• ravener
• ravening
• ravenous, ravenously, ravenousness

Further reading

• Corvus corax on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• Verna

Dutch

Etymology 1

Borrowed from English rave.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈreːvə(n)/

Verb

raven

1. to (hold a) rave, to party wildly

Inflection

Inflection of raven (weak)
infinitive	raven
past singular	ravede
past participle	geraved
infinitive	raven
gerund	raven n
	present tense	past tense
1st person singular	rave	ravede
2nd person sing. (jij)	ravet	ravede
2nd person sing. (u)	ravet	ravede
2nd person sing. (gij)	ravet	ravede
3rd person singular	ravet	ravede
plural	raven	raveden
subjunctive sing.1	rave	ravede
subjunctive plur.1	raven	raveden
imperative sing.	rave
imperative plur.1	ravet
participles	ravend	geraved
1) Archaic.

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈraːvə(n)/

• Audio

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aːvən

Noun

raven

1. plural of raaf

Anagrams

• ervan, varen

German

Etymology

From Rave +‎ -en, possibly after English (to) rave.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈʁɛɪ̯vn̩/

Verb

raven (weak, third-person singular present ravt, past tense ravte, past participle geravt, auxiliary haben) (or as past participle: geraved)

1. (colloquial) to rave (to attend a rave)
   • 2018 March 15, Julian Weber, “Kepler 452b-Rave”, in Die Tageszeitung: taz‎^[5], →ISSN, page 26:

     Es wird geravt im Funkhaus Nalepastraße. „Kepler 452b“ klingt danach, Lichtjahre von der Realität entfernt zu sein. Motto des Techno-Performance-Festivals: „nonprofit und nomadisch“, Levitation pur.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

Conjugation

Conjugation of raven (weak, auxiliary haben)

infinitive		raven
present participle		ravend
past participle		geravt
auxiliary		haben
	indicative			subjunctive
	singular	plural		singular	plural
present	ich rave	wir raven	i	ich rave	wir raven
	du ravst	ihr ravt		du ravest	ihr ravet
	er ravt	sie raven		er rave	sie raven
preterite	ich ravte	wir ravten	ii	ich ravte1	wir ravten1
	du ravtest	ihr ravtet		du ravtest1	ihr ravtet1
	er ravte	sie ravten		er ravte1	sie ravten1
imperative	rav (du) rave (du)	ravt (ihr)

¹Rare except in very formal contexts; alternative in würde normally preferred.

Composed forms of raven (weak, auxiliary haben)

perfect
	singular	plural		singular	plural
indicative	ich habe geravt	wir haben geravt	subjunctive	ich habe geravt	wir haben geravt
	du hast geravt	ihr habt geravt		du habest geravt	ihr habet geravt
	er hat geravt	sie haben geravt		er habe geravt	sie haben geravt
pluperfect
indicative	ich hatte geravt	wir hatten geravt	subjunctive	ich hätte geravt	wir hätten geravt
	du hattest geravt	ihr hattet geravt		du hättest geravt	ihr hättet geravt
	er hatte geravt	sie hatten geravt		er hätte geravt	sie hätten geravt
future i
infinitive	raven werden		subjunctive i	ich werde raven	wir werden raven
				du werdest raven	ihr werdet raven
				er werde raven	sie werden raven
indicative	ich werde raven	wir werden raven	subjunctive ii	ich würde raven	wir würden raven
	du wirst raven	ihr werdet raven		du würdest raven	ihr würdet raven
	er wird raven	sie werden raven		er würde raven	sie würden raven
future ii
infinitive	geravt haben werden		subjunctive i	ich werde geravt haben	wir werden geravt haben
				du werdest geravt haben	ihr werdet geravt haben
				er werde geravt haben	sie werden geravt haben
indicative	ich werde geravt haben	wir werden geravt haben	subjunctive ii	ich würde geravt haben	wir würden geravt haben
	du wirst geravt haben	ihr werdet geravt haben		du würdest geravt haben	ihr würdet geravt haben
	er wird geravt haben	sie werden geravt haben		er würde geravt haben	sie würden geravt haben

Related terms

• Rave
• Raver

Further reading

• “raven” in Duden online
• “raven” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache

Middle Dutch

Etymology

From Old Dutch ravan, from Proto-West Germanic *hrabn.

Noun

rāven m

1. raven

Inflection

This noun needs an inflection-table template.

Alternative forms

• rāvene
• rāve

Descendants

• Dutch: raaf
  • Afrikaans: raaf
  • → Sranan Tongo: rafru
• Limburgish: raof

Further reading

• “raven”, in Vroegmiddelnederlands Woordenboek, 2000
• Verwijs, E., Verdam, J. (1885–1929) “raven”, in Middelnederlandsch Woordenboek, The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, →ISBN

Slovene

Etymology

From Proto-Slavic *orvьnъ.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ràːʋən/

Adjective

rávən (comparative rávnejši, superlative nȁjrávnejši)

1. even, level

Inflection

The diacritics used in this section of the entry are non-tonal. If you are a native tonal speaker, please help by adding the tonal marks.

Hard
	masculine	feminine	neuter
nom. sing.	ráven	rávna	rávno
singular
	masculine	feminine	neuter
nominative	ráven ind rávni def	rávna	rávno
genitive	rávnega	rávne	rávnega
dative	rávnemu	rávni	rávnemu
accusative	nominativeinan or genitiveanim	rávno	rávno
locative	rávnem	rávni	rávnem
instrumental	rávnim	rávno	rávnim
dual
	masculine	feminine	neuter
nominative	rávna	rávni	rávni
genitive	rávnih	rávnih	rávnih
dative	rávnima	rávnima	rávnima
accusative	rávna	rávni	rávni
locative	rávnih	rávnih	rávnih
instrumental	rávnima	rávnima	rávnima
plural
	masculine	feminine	neuter
nominative	rávni	rávne	rávna
genitive	rávnih	rávnih	rávnih
dative	rávnim	rávnim	rávnim
accusative	rávne	rávne	rávna
locative	rávnih	rávnih	rávnih
instrumental	rávnimi	rávnimi	rávnimi

Alternative forms

• ravȃn (archaic)

Derived terms

• rávnost

Further reading

• “raven”, in Slovarji Inštituta za slovenski jezik Frana Ramovša ZRC SAZU, portal Fran

Swedish

Noun

raven

1. definite plural of rave