Standard Lemma guide

ruth

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.
  • Australian, New-Zealand: /ɹʉːθ/
  • Scotland: /ɾʉθ/
  • Wales: /ɾɪʊθ/
  • Northern-Ireland: /ɹʉθ/
  • homophone: Ruth
  • homophone: roof (th-fronting)
  • CMU ARPABET: R UW1 TH Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

name

Meaning 1

A book of the Old Testament and the Hebrew Tanakh.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Topics: biblical, lifestyle, religion

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: Rth.

Antonyms: none provided

2

name

Meaning 2

The resident of Moab around whom the text centers.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Topics: biblical, lifestyle, religion

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

name

Meaning 3

A female given name from Hebrew.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

4

name

Meaning 4

A census-designated place in White Pine County, Nevada, United States.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

5

name

Meaning 5

A census-designated place in Trinity County, California, United States.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

6

noun

Meaning 6

Sorrow for the misery of another person; compassion, mercy, pity.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: archaic, countable, uncountable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: commiseration, rue, bowels, compassion, empathy, fellow feeling, mercy, pity, remorse, ruth, sympathy, tenderheartedness, loving-kindness

Antonyms: unruth

7

noun

Meaning 7

Regret, remorse, repentance.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: archaic, countable, uncountable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: contrition, agenbite, remorse, rue, ruth, compunction, guilt, penitence, repentance, self-reproach, sorriness

Antonyms: none provided

8

noun

Meaning 8

Matter for regret or sorrow; calamity, ruin; also, occasion for regret or sorrow; (countable) an instance of this; a disaster, a pitiful thing.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: obsolete, uncountable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: hardship, sorrow, affliction, aggrievance, distress, grief, grievance, misery, ruth, sadness, undelight, vexation, woe, wrong

Antonyms: none provided

9

noun

Meaning 9

Distress, misery, sorrow.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: obsolete, uncountable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: dejection, unhappiness, blueness, tristesse, mirthless, blues, crestfallenness, depression, despondency, distress, dolefulness, downheartedness, drearihead, forlornness, grief, heartsore, ill-being, infelicity, melancholia, melancholy, misery, mishappiness, mourn, prosternation, regret, rue, ruth, sadness, sorrow, sorrowfulness, tristfulness, undelight, woe, woefare, wretchedness

Antonyms: none provided

10

noun

Meaning 10

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
  • Corsican: Rut — female given name
  • Czech: Rút — female given name
  • Danish: Ruth — female given name
  • Dutch: Ruth — female given name
  • Estonian: Rutt — female given name
  • Faroese: Rutt — female given name
  • Finnish: Ruut — female given name
  • French: Ruth — female given name
  • West-Frisian: Ruth — female given name
  • Georgian: რუთა (ruta) — female given name
  • German: Ruth — female given name
  • Greek: Ρουθ (Routh) — female given name
  • Ancient Greek: Ῥούθ (Rhoúth) — female given name
  • Ancient Greek: Ρούθ (Roúth) — female given name
  • Greenlandic: Ruth — female given name
  • Hawaiian: Luka — female given name
  • Hebrew: רוּת (rut) — female given name
  • Hindi: रूत (rūt) — female given name
  • Hungarian: Ruth — female given name
  • Icelandic: Ruth — female given name
  • Ido: Ruto — female given name
  • Irish: Rút — female given name
  • Italian: Rut — female given name
  • Japanese: ルース (Rūsu) — female given name
  • Japanese: ルツ (Rutsu) — female given name
  • Korean: 룻 — female given name
  • Latin: Ruth — female given name
  • Latvian: Ruta — female given name
  • Lavukaleve: Ruth — female given name
  • Limburgish: Ruth — female given name
  • Lithuanian: Rūta — female given name
  • Malay: Rut — female given name
  • Maltese: Rut — female given name
  • Manchu: ᡵᡠᡨ (rut) — female given name
  • Manx: Ruth — female given name
  • Māori: Ruta — female given name
  • Mirandese: Rute — female given name
  • Neapolitan: Rut — female given name
  • Norwegian: Ruth — female given name
  • Norwegian: Rut — female given name
  • Polish: Rut — female given name
  • Portuguese: Rute — female given name
  • Romanian: Rut — female given name
  • Russian: Руфь (Rufʹ) — female given name
  • Russian: Рут — female given name
  • Scots: Ruth — female given name
  • Scottish Gaelic: Rut — female given name
  • Serbo-Croatian: Ruta — female given name
  • Slovak: Rút — female given name
  • Slovene: Ruta — female given name
  • Spanish: Rut — female given name
  • Spanish: Ruth — female given name
  • Swahili: Ruth — female given name
  • Swahili: Ruthu — female given name
  • Swedish: Rut — female given name
  • Swedish: Ruth — female given name
  • Tagalog: Ruth — female given name
  • Waray-Waray: Ruth — female given name
  • Welsh: Ruth — female given name
  • Zealandic: Ruth — female given name