name · noun · 13 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.
/ɹuːθ/
rhymes with -uːθ
Southern-England:Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
homophone: ruth
Received-Pronunciation:/ɹuːθ/
British, Southern, Standard:/ɹʉwθ/
Southern-England:Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
General-American:/ɹuθ/
General-American:Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
a book of the Old Testament that tells the story of Ruth who was not an Israelite but who married an Israelite and who stayed with her mother-in-law Naomi after her husband died
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: Book of Ruth
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: book
11
noun
Meaning 11
a feeling of sympathy and sorrow for the misfortunes of others
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
Examples
the blind are too often objects of pity
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: commiseration, pity, pathos
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: sympathy, fellow feeling
12
noun
Meaning 12
the great-grandmother of king David whose story is told in the Book of Ruth in the Old Testament
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: wife, married woman
13
noun
Meaning 13
United States professional baseball player famous for hitting home runs (1895-1948)
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: Babe Ruth, George Herman Ruth, Sultan of Swat
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: ballplayer, baseball player
History
Etymology
From Ruth the Moabite, Hebrew רות, of uncertain origin, possibly meaning "companion". Also associated with the English noun ruth (“compassion”) by Puritans.
From Middle English ruthe, reuthe, reuþe, reowthe, rewthe (“compassion, pity, sympathy; mercy; grief, sorrow; cause or event of pity or sorrow; lamentation; calamity, trouble; distress; regret, remorse; cruelty, ill treatment”), from reu, reuen (“to feel compassion or pity; to regret, rue; etc.”) + -th, -the (suffix denoting a condition, quality, state of being, etc.), possibly influenced by an early Scandinavian language (compare Old Norse hrygð, hryggð (“affliction, grief, sorrow, ruth”), from the Proto-Germanic word indicated below). Reuen is derived from Old English hrēowan (“to grieve; to regret, rue; to repent”), from Proto-West Germanic *hreuwan (“to cause pain; to regret”), from Proto-Germanic *hrewwaną (“to cause regret, rue; to feel sorrow, grieve”); further etymology uncertain, possibly from Proto-Indo-European *krew(H)-, possibly related to Proto-Indo-European *krewh2- (“blood”) and *krows- (“to fall, beat, break, bruise”). By surface analysis, rue (“to regret; etc.”) + -th (suffix forming abstract nouns from verbs).
Across languages
Translations
156 source translations are retained for this English entry.
Afrikaans:
Rut
— book of the Bible
Arabic:
سِفْر رَاعُوث
(sifr rāʕūṯ)
— book of the Bible
Aramaic:
ܣܦܪܐ ܕܪܥܘܬ
— book of the Bible
Armenian:
Հռութ
(Hṙutʻ)
— book of the Bible
Asturian:
Rut
— book of the Bible
Basque:
Rut
— book of the Bible
Breton:
Ruth
— book of the Bible
Burmese:
ရုသဝတ္ထု
(ru.sa.wathtu.)
— book of the Bible
Catalan:
Rut
— book of the Bible
Cebuano:
Ruth
— book of the Bible
Cherokee:
ᎷᏏ
(lusi)
— book of the Bible
Chinese Cantonese:
路得記 /路得记
(lou6 tak1 gei3)
— book of the Bible
Chinese Cantonese:
盧德傳 /卢德传
— book of the Bible
Eastern Min Chinese:
路得記 /路得记
(Lô-dáik-gé)
— book of the Bible
Hakka Chinese:
路得記 /路得记
(Lu-tet-ki)
— book of the Bible
Chinese:
路得
(Lō͘-tek)
— book of the Bible
Chinese:
路得記 /路得记
(Lō͘-tek-kì)
— book of the Bible
Chinese:
盧德傳 /卢德传
(Lô͘-tek-toān)
— book of the Bible
Chinese Mandarin:
路得記 /路得记
(Lùdé jì)
— book of the Bible
Chinese Mandarin:
盧德傳 /卢德传
(Lúdé zhuàn)
— book of the Bible
Corsican:
Rut
— book of the Bible
Czech:
Rút
— book of the Bible
Danish:
Ruth
— book of the Bible
Dutch:
Ruth
— book of the Bible
Estonian:
Rutt
— book of the Bible
Faroese:
Rutt
— book of the Bible
Finnish:
Ruut
— book of the Bible
French:
livre de Ruth
— book of the Bible
West-Frisian:
Ruth
— book of the Bible
Georgian:
რუთა
(ruta)
— book of the Bible
German:
Ruth
— book of the Bible
German:
Buch Rut
— book of the Bible
Greek:
Ρουθ
(Routh)
— book of the Bible
Ancient Greek:
Ρούθ
(Roúth)
— book of the Bible
Greenlandic:
Ruth
— book of the Bible
Hawaiian:
Ruta
— book of the Bible
Hebrew:
רוּת
— book of the Bible
Hindi:
रूत
(rūt)
— book of the Bible
Hungarian:
Ruth
— book of the Bible
Icelandic:
Ruth
— book of the Bible
Ido:
Ruto
— book of the Bible
Indonesian:
Rut
— book of the Bible
Irish:
Leabhar Rút
— book of the Bible
Irish:
Rút
— book of the Bible
Italian:
Rut
— book of the Bible
Japanese:
ルツ記
(Rutsu-ki)
— book of the Bible
Jarai:
H'Rut
— book of the Bible
Kazakh:
Рут
— book of the Bible
Latin:
Ruth
— book of the Bible
Latvian:
Rute
— book of the Bible
Lavukaleve:
Ruth
— book of the Bible
Limburgish:
Ruth
— book of the Bible
Lithuanian:
Rūtos knyga
— book of the Bible
Malay:
Rut
— book of the Bible
Malayalam:
റൂത്തിന്റെ പുസ്തകം
(ṟūttinṟe pustakaṁ)
— book of the Bible
Maltese:
Ktieb Rut
— book of the Bible
Manx:
Ruth
— book of the Bible
Māori:
Rutu
— book of the Bible
Mirandese:
Rute
— book of the Bible
Neapolitan:
Rut
— book of the Bible
Norwegian:
Rut
— book of the Bible
Persian:
کتاب روت
(ketâb-e rut)
— book of the Bible
Polish:
Księga Rut
— book of the Bible
Portuguese:
Rute
— book of the Bible
Romanian:
Rut
— book of the Bible
Russian:
Кни́га Руфь
(Kníga Rufʹ)
— book of the Bible
Scots:
Ruth
— book of the Bible
Scottish Gaelic:
Rut
— book of the Bible
Serbo-Croatian:
Ruta
— book of the Bible
Slovak:
Rút
— book of the Bible
Slovene:
Ruta
— book of the Bible
Spanish:
Rut
— book of the Bible
Swahili:
Ruth
— book of the Bible
Swahili:
Ruthu
— book of the Bible
Swedish:
Rut
— book of the Bible
Tagalog:
Ruth
— book of the Bible
Tamil:
ரூத்து
(rūttu)
— book of the Bible
Telugu:
రూత్
(rūt)
— book of the Bible
Thai:
นางรูธ
— book of the Bible
Tumbuka:
Rute
— book of the Bible
Urdu:
رُوت
(rūt)
— book of the Bible
Urdu:
کِتابِ رُوت
(kitāb-e rūt)
— book of the Bible
Uzbek:
Rut
— book of the Bible
Waray-Waray:
Ruth
— book of the Bible
Welsh:
Ruth
— book of the Bible
Zealandic:
Ruth
— book of the Bible
Afrikaans:
Rut
— female given name
Arabic:
رُوث
(rūṯ)
— female given name
Arabic:
رَاعُوث
(rāʕūṯ)
— female given name
Arabic:
رُوت
(rūt)
— female given name
Armenian:
Հռութ
(Hṙutʻ)
— female given name
Basque:
Rut
— female given name
Breton:
Ruth
— female given name
Catalan:
Rut
— female given name
Cebuano:
Ruth
— female given name
Chinese Mandarin:
露絲 /露丝
(Lùsī)
— female given name