Rich

Part of speech: adjective

Pronunciation: /ɹɪt͡ʃ/

Definitions

1. Having a large amount of money, possessions, or valuable resources
2. Possessing significant financial resources, valuable assets, or material wealth is indicative of affluence
3. Holding vast monetary assets or many valuable items ; characterized by an abundance of a particular quality or substance

Etymology: The adjective "rich" began as a word for power, not money. Its Old English ancestor "rīċe" meant "powerful, mighty, great, high-ranking" as well as "wealthy," and the Old English sense of "powerful" came first in the word's meaning range. Its deepest root is a noun for "king" or "ruler," "rīks," which had already been borrowed from Celtic into Germanic before the English word took shape. A ruler was, by definition, powerful, and in a world where power and property went together, wealth followed naturally from it. The link between the king and the purse is still visible in the family of words the English word belongs to. Dutch "rijk," German "reich," and Swedish "rik" all carry the same root, and German "Reich" is the same word that gives us the name of a state. The Romance languages inherited a related form too: Spanish "rico," Italian "ricco," and French "riche" all come from the same West Germanic source, reinforcing the English word through French.

Synonyms: wealthy, affluent, opulent, prosperous, loaded

Antonyms: poor, impoverished, needy, destitute, broke