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Etymology data from Wiktionary via Wiktextract (CC BY-SA 4.0). Chinese character data from the 說文解字, the Taiwan MOE 國語辭典簡編本 (CC BY-ND 3.0 TW) and HSK/TOCFL lists.

Explanations are written by a local model (gemma4) and only published after a verification pass against the cited sources. How it works.

English

real

/ɹiːl/
True, genuine, not merely nominal or apparent.

    Etymology graph

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    • borrowed
    • derived
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    • meaning component
    • sound component
    • related
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    Origin

    Etymology 1

    From Middle English real, from Old French reel, from Late Latin reālis (“actual”), from Latin rēs (“matter, thing”), from Proto-Indo-European *reh₁ís (“wealth, goods”). Doublet of realis. In modern times, likely strengthened by or conflated with the use of the prefix re-, analyzable as re- + -al.

    Etymology 2

    Borrowed from Spanish real (“royal”), from Latin rēgālis (“regal, royal”). Doublet of ariary, regal, riyal, and royal.

    Etymology 3

    From Portuguese real (“royal”), from Latin rēgālis (“regal; royal”). Doublet of ariary, regal, riyal, and royal.

    From Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.

    Lineage

    • inheritedMiddle Englishreal
      • borrowedOld Frenchreel
        • derivedLate Latinreālis
          • partLatin-ālis “-al”
            • inheritedProto-Italic*-ālis
            • derivedProto-Indo-European*-li-
        • derivedLatinreālis “real”
    • rootProto-Indo-European*h₃reǵ- “to straighten”
    • borrowedSpanishreal “royal”
      • derivedLatinrēgālis “regal, royal”
        • partLatinrēx “king”
          • inheritedProto-Italic*rēks
            • inheritedProto-Indo-European*h₃rḗǵs “ruler, king”
              • partProto-Indo-European*-s
    • borrowedPortuguesereal
      • inheritedOld Galician-Portuguesereal

    Related: English royal (doublet), English regal (doublet), English riyal (doublet), English realis (doublet), English ariary (doublet)

    Words built on it: really, real-time, keep it real

    Meanings

    adj
    1. True, genuine, not merely nominal or apparent.
    2. Genuine, not artificial, counterfeit, or fake.
    3. Genuine, unfeigned, sincere.
    4. Actually being, existing, or occurring; not fictitious or imaginary.
    5. That has objective, physical existence.
    6. Having been adjusted to remove the effects of inflation; measured in purchasing power (contrast nominal).
    adv
    1. Really; very.
    noun
    1. A commodity; see realty.
    2. One of the three genders that the common gender can be separated into in the Scandinavian languages.
    3. A real number.
    4. A realist.

    Sources

    • Wiktionary (via Wiktextract / kaikki.org) — CC BY-SA 4.0
    • Wiktionary: real