different between wray vs wraw

English

Alternative forms

• wreye (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English wrayen, wraien, wreien (“to show, make known, accuse”), from Old English wr??an (“to urge, incite, stir up, accuse, impeach”), from Proto-Germanic *wr?gijan? (“to tell; tell on; announce; accuse”), from Proto-Indo-European *were-, *wr?- (“to tell; speak; shout”). Akin to Dutch wroegen (“to blame”), German rügen (“to reprove”), Swedish röja (“to bewray; reveal; expose”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?e?/
• Rhymes: -e?

Verb

wray (third-person singular simple present wrays, present participle wraying, simple past and past participle wrayed)

1. (obsolete) To denounce (a person).
2. (obsolete) To reveal (a secret).
   • 1387-1400, Geoffrey Chaucer, "The Franklin's Tale", Canterbury Tales

     no thyng dorste he seye, / Save in his songes somwhat wolde he wreye / His wo

3. (obsolete) To betray.

   • Thou shalt upon thy trouthe swere me heere

     That to no wight thou shalt this conseil wreye.

Related terms

• bewray

Anagrams

• awry, wary

Middle English

Alternative forms

• wrow, wrah, wra?, wro?, wragh, wrogh, wrau

Etymology

Unknown (the ME forms seem to point to an Old English *wr?h, *wr?g); compare Swedish dialect vrå (“wilful, disobedient”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /wrau?(x)/, /wr?u?(x)/

Adjective

wraw (plural and weak singular wrawe)

1. Easily angered; in a foul mood.
2. Angry; vexed; wrathful

Derived terms

• wrawen

References

• “wrau, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2019-06-01.
• wraw in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.