noun · 2 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot
Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.
Sound
Pronunciation
Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.
/ˈɹɛɡeɪ/
Southern-England:Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
General-American:Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
rhymes with -ɛɡeɪ
CMU ARPABET:R EH1 G EY2
Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.
1
noun
Meaning 1
A music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1960s and is heavily associated with Rastafarianism, featuring a heavy bass line and percussive rhythm guitar on the offbeat, often with close vocal harmonies.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: Rastafari, uncountable
Topics: entertainment, lifestyle, music
Examples
Near-synonym: (earlier) bluebeat
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
2
noun
Meaning 2
popular music originating in the West Indies; repetitive bass riffs and regular chords played on the off beat by a guitar
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: popular music, popular music genre
History
Etymology
From Jamaican Creole rege (“rags; a quarrel”), see rag; originally used in the 1960s to describe a Jamaican dance. Compare ragtime. Broader musical sense popularized by the 1968 Maytals song “Do the Reggay”.
Across languages
Translations
39 source translations are retained for this English entry.
Antillean Creole:
wégé
— music genre
Antillean Creole:
régé
— music genre
Arabic:
رِيغِي
(rīḡī)
— music genre
Arabic:
ريقي
(rēgē)
— music genre
Armenian:
ռեգգի
(ṙeggi)
— music genre
Bulgarian:
реге
(rege)
— music genre
Chinese Mandarin:
雷吉樂 /雷吉乐
(léijíyuè)
— music genre
Chinese Mandarin:
雷鬼樂 /雷鬼乐
(léiguǐyuè)
— music genre
Chinese Mandarin:
雷蓋樂 /雷盖乐
(léigàiyuè)
— music genre
Chinese Mandarin:
瑞格樂 /瑞格乐
(ruìgéyuè)
— music genre
