Definitions and meaning of rote
rote
English
Pronunciation
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ɹəʊt/
- (US) IPA(key): /ɹoʊt/
-
- Rhymes: -əʊt
- Homophone: wrote
Etymology 1
From Middle English rote (“custom, habit, wont, condition, state”), further origin unknown. Found in the Middle English phrase bi rote (“by heart, according to form, expertly”), c. 1300. Some have proposed a relationship either with Old French rote/rute (“route”), or Latin rota (“wheel”) (see rotary), but the OED calls both suggestions groundless. Another explanation might be the metaphorical comparison between anything repetitive and playing the rote.
Noun
rote (uncountable)
- Mechanical routine; a fixed, habitual, repetitive, or mechanical course of procedure.
Usage notes
- Commonly found in the phrase “by rote” and in attributive use: “rote learning”, “rote memorization”, and so on.
- Often used pejoratively in comparison with “deeper” learning that leads to “understanding”.
Synonyms
Derived terms
Translations
See also
- drill and kill
- memoriter
- muscle memory
Adjective
rote (comparative more rote, superlative most rote)
- By repetition or practice.
Translations
Verb
rote (third-person singular simple present rotes, present participle roting, simple past and past participle roted)
- (obsolete) To go out by rotation or succession; to rotate.
- 1744, Zachary Grey, ann., Hudibras, in Three Parts, Written in the Time of the Late Wars: Corrected and Amended. With Large Annotations, and a Preface, by Zachary Grey, LL.D., vol. 2. Dublin: […] Robert Owen […] and William Brien […]. page 92:
- The Model of it was, That a third Part of the Senate or Parliament, ſhould rote out by Ballot every Year; […].
- (transitive) To learn or repeat by rote.
- [Volumnia to Corolianus] "Because that it lies you on to speak/ to th' people, not by your own instruction,/ Nor by th' matter which your heart prompts you,/ But with such words that are but roted in/ your tongue,..." Coriolanus III.ii.52-55
Etymology 2
From Old Norse rót n (“tossing, pitching (of sea)”), perhaps related to rauta (“to roar”); see hrjóta. Compare Middle English routen (“to roar, bellow, storm, rage, howl”).
Noun
rote (uncountable)
- (rare) The roar of the surf; the sound of waves breaking on the shore. [from c. 1600]
Translations
Etymology 3
From Middle English rote, from Old French rote, probably of German origin; compare Middle High German rotte, and English crowd (“a kind of violin”).
Noun
rote (plural rotes)
- (music) A kind of guitar, the notes of which were produced by a small wheel or wheel-like arrangement; an instrument similar to the hurdy-gurdy.
- Synonym of crowd.
References
- “rote”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
Anagrams
French
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ʁɔt/
- Rhymes: -ɔt
Etymology 1
Inherited from Old French rote, Middle High German rotte.
Noun
rote f (plural rotes)
- rote (musical instrument)
Etymology 2
See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.
Verb
rote
- inflection of roter:
- first/third-person singular present indicative/subjunctive
- second-person singular imperative
Further reading
- “rote”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
Anagrams
Gallo
Etymology
From Old French rote, from Latin rupta [via].
Noun
rote f (plural rotes)
- road
German
Pronunciation
Adjective
rote
- inflection of rot:
- strong/mixed nominative/accusative feminine singular
- strong nominative/accusative plural
- weak nominative all-gender singular
- weak accusative feminine/neuter singular
Italian
Noun
rote f
- plural of rota
Anagrams
Middle English
Etymology 1
From Late Old English rōt, rōte, from Old Norse rót, from Proto-Germanic *wrōts, from Proto-Indo-European *wréh₂ds. Doublet of wort (“plant”). See more at English root.
Alternative forms
Pronunciation
Noun
rote (plural rotes or roten)
- The root (submerged part of a plant):
- A root used as food; a root vegetable or tuber.
- A root employed for supposed curative or medical properties.
- The foundation or base of a protuberance or extension of the body:
- The root of the hair; the part of the hair within the scalp.
- The root of the tooth; the part of the tooth within the scalp.
- The root of a nail; the part of a nail within the skin.
- The base or attached part of an organ or bodily member.
- The base or attached part of a swelling or boil.
- Something which generates, creates, or emanates something:
- The origin of an abstract quality; that which something originally came from.
- A wellspring or exemplar of an abstract quality that which something comes from.
- The offspring of a certain individual or nation as a progenitor; a lineage or descent.
- The foundation of a tall structure (e.g. a trunk, pole, turret)
- The (or a key) foundational or core condition, essence or portion of something.
- One who descends from another; a member of an individual's lineage or stock.
- The base of a peak or mount; the beginning of an elevation.
- A protuberance resembling or functioning like a root.
- The most inner, central, or deepest part of something.
- (rare, astronomy) Data used for astronomical purposes.
- (rare, mathematics) A mathematical root.
Related terms
- roten (“to root”)
- rotynge (“rooting”)
Descendants
- English: root, wrout, rout (dialectal), wroot (obsolete)
- Scots: ruit, rute
References
- “rọ̄te, n.(4).”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2019-02-23.
Etymology 2
Unknown. Sometimes connected to Old French route (“route”) or Latin rota (“wheel”), but OED rejects both comparisons.
Alternative forms
Pronunciation
Noun
rote (uncountable)
- Traditional, customary, usual, or habitual behaviour or procedure.
Descendants
References
- “rōte, n.(2).”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2019-02-22.
Etymology 3
Borrowed from Old French rote, from Latin chrotta, borrowed from a Germanic form such as Old High German hruoza, borrowed itself from a Celtic term deriving from Proto-Celtic *kruttos; compare Welsh crwth. A doublet of crowde.
Alternative forms
Pronunciation
Noun
rote (plural rotys)
- A musical instrument having strings and similar to a harp.
Descendants
- English: rote
- Scots: rote (rare, obsolete)
References
- “rōte, n.(1).”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2019-02-22.
Etymology 4
Verb
rote
- alternative form of roten (“to rot”)
Etymology 5
Verb
rote
- alternative form of roten (“to root”)
Etymology 6
Adjective
rote
- alternative form of roten (“rotten”)
Etymology 7
Noun
rote
- alternative form of rot
Neapolitan
Noun
rote
- plural of rota
Norwegian Bokmål
Etymology
From Old Norse róta.
Pronunciation
Verb
rote (present tense roter, past tense rota or rotet, past participle rota or rotet)
- to untidy, to make a mess
- (slang) to fool around (engage in casual or flirtatious sexual acts)
Derived terms
- rotet (or rotete)
- rotehue
- rotekopp
Related terms
References
- “rote” in The Bokmål Dictionary.
Norwegian Nynorsk
Etymology 1
From Old Norse róta.
Alternative forms
Verb
rote (present tense rotar, past tense rota, past participle rota, passive infinitive rotast, present participle rotande, imperative rote/rot)
- to untidy
Related terms
Etymology 2
Alternative forms
- ròte (alternative spelling)
Noun
rote m (definite singular roten, indefinite plural rotar, definite plural rotane)
- rot
Related terms
Etymology 3
From Old Norse roti, from Middle Low German rote from Old French rote, from Medieval Latin rota, rotta, ruta, rutta (“a rout”).
Noun
rote f (definite singular rota, indefinite plural roter or rotor, definite plural rotene or rotone)
- (pre-2012) alternative form of rode (see there for more.)
References
- “rote” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.
Old English
Pronunciation
Adjective
rōte
- inflection of rōt:
- strong accusative feminine singular
- strong instrumental masculine/neuter singular
- strong nominative/accusative masculine/feminine plural
- weak nominative feminine/neuter singular
- weak accusative neuter singular
Old French
Etymology 1
Inherited from Latin rupta [via].
Alternative forms
Noun
rote oblique singular, f (oblique plural rotes, nominative singular rote, nominative plural rotes)
- route, path
- a particular unit of weight
- group of armed men on the march
- hunt, pursuit
Descendants
- French: route
- → Catalan: ruta
- → Norwegian Bokmål: rute
- → Norwegian Nynorsk: rute
- → Polish: ruta
- → Romanian: rută
- → Spanish: ruta
- → Tagalog: ruta
- → Yámana: ruta
- → Swedish: rutt, route
- Gallo: rote
- Norman: route
- → Dutch: route
- → Middle English: route, rowte
- → Portuguese: rota
References
- “rote2”, in DEAF: Dictionnaire Étymologique de l'Ancien Français, Heidelberg: Heidelberger Akademie der Wissenschaften, 1968-.
Etymology 2
Of Celtic origin, from Welsh crwth.
Noun
rote oblique singular, f (oblique plural rotes, nominative singular rote, nominative plural rotes)
- rote (musical instrument)
References
- “rote1”, in DEAF: Dictionnaire Étymologique de l'Ancien Français, Heidelberg: Heidelberger Akademie der Wissenschaften, 1968-.
Descendants
- French: rote
- → Portuguese: rota
Portuguese
Verb
rote
- inflection of rotar:
- first/third-person singular present subjunctive
- third-person singular imperative
Spanish
Verb
rote
- inflection of rotar:
- first/third-person singular present subjunctive
- third-person singular imperative
Swedish
Etymology
Old Swedish rote, from Middle French route, roupte (“disorderly flight of troops”), literally "a breaking off, rupture," from Vulgar Latin *rupta (“a dispersed group”), literally "a broken group," from Latin rupta. Related to English rout.
Noun
rote c
- a district (of a parish or town, for the purpose of fire fighting, road maintenance, mail forwarding, social care, etc.)
- a file, a section, a squad, a pair (of soldiers, of aircraft)
- 20 rotar
- twenty file
- med utryckta rotar
- four deep
- indelning av rotar!
- squad-number!
Declension
Related terms
- brandrote
- postrote
- rotechef
- rotehjon
- rotepar
See also
References
- rote in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)
- rote in Svenska Akademiens ordbok (SAOB)
- rote in Walter E. Harlock, Svensk-engelsk ordbok : skolupplaga (1964)
Anagrams
Source: wiktionary.org