Rachel

See also: rachel, Ráchel, and Rachêl

English

Alternative forms

• Rachael, Rachelle, Rach

Etymology

Borrowed from Late Latin Rāchēl, from Ancient Greek Ῥαχήλ (Rhakhḗl), from Biblical Hebrew רָחֵל (rāḫēl, “ewe”). Doublet of Raquel.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA^(key): /ˈɹeɪ.tʃəl/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪtʃəl
• Hyphenation: Ra‧chel

Proper noun

Rachel

2. (biblical) Younger daughter of Laban, sister to Leah, and second wife of Jacob.
   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Genesis 29:16–18:

     And Laban had two daughters: the name of the elder was Leah, and the name of the younger was Rachel. Leah was tender eyed; but Rachel was beautiful and well favoured. And Jacob loved Rachel; and said, I will serve thee seven years for Rachel thy younger daughter.

3. A female given name from Hebrew.
   • 1849 The Massachusetts Teacher, Massachusetts Teachers' Association, Vol. 2,page 26, January 1849:

     Rachel is another modest, nun-like name, of the same order as Judith, and has the appropriate signification of a lamb.

   • 1979, Doris Lessing, Shikasta, Knopf, published 1979, →ISBN, page 293:

     She keeps saying, You are mistaken Rachel. She says my name in that heavy earnest way. The Jewish Ra-chel. I like my name like that. I have always been pleased when people said Ra-chel. But when she says it, it is as if she was taking me over. Through my name.

   • 2010, Rob Sachs, What Would Rob Do?, John Wiley & Sons, →ISBN:

     I recognize that a name like Rachel goes against my whole "ordering a different dish from everyone else at the table" rule, but sometimes you really want a steak, and that's exactly what you should get. I love the name we gave our daughter. It's not dorky, not too whimsical, and not too stuck-up. To us it sounded sweet, sporty, smart, and beautiful. It also works well with Sachs.

   • 2023 August 18, Francesca Street, “Her flight was canceled. Then she ended up on the doorstep of her future wife”, in CNN‎:

     When Larissa Santos opened her front door and saw Rachel Bush for the first time, she was immediately flooded with emotions.

4. A census-designated place in Lincoln County, Nevada, United States; named for the first baby born in the town.
5. A census-designated place in Marion County, West Virginia, United States; named for the daughter of a local mine owner.

Derived terms

• Finchel

Translations

younger daughter of Laban

Afrikaans: Ragel Aghwan: 𐕙𐔰𐕣𐔴𐔾 (rakel) Amharic: ራሔል (raḥel) Arabic: رَاحِيل f (rāḥīl) Aramaic: ܪܳܚܶܝܠ (raHeyl) Armenian: Ռաքել (Ṙakʻel) Old Armenian: Ռաքէլ (Ṙakʻēl), Հռաքէլ (Hṙakʻēl) Bulgarian: Рахи́л f (Rahíl) Chinese: Mandarin: 拉結 / 拉结 (Lājiē), 辣黑耳 (Làhēi'ěr) Czech: Ráchel Danish: Rakel (da) Dutch: Rachel (nl) Esperanto: Raĥel Estonian: Raahel Finnish: Raakel (fi) French: Rachel (fr) German: Rachel (de), Rahel Greek: Ραχήλ (el) (Rachíl) Gujarati: રાહેલ f (rāhel) Hausa: Rahila Hawaiian: Rāhela Hebrew: רָחֵל (he) f (rāḥēl) Hungarian: Ráchel (hu) Icelandic: Rakel (is) Italian: Rachele (it) Japanese: ラケル (Rakeru) Kazakh: Рахила (Raxila) Korean: 라헬 (rahel) Lithuanian: Rachelė f Malay: Rahel Maore Comorian: Rahilu Maori: Rāhera Norwegian: Rakel (no) Polish: Rachela (pl) Portuguese: Raquel (pt) Russian: Рахи́ль (ru) f (Raxílʹ) Scottish Gaelic: Rachel f Spanish: Raquel (es) Swedish: Rakel (sv) Tigrinya: ራሔል (raḥel) Turkish: Rahel (tr) f Ukrainian: Рахиль f (Raxylʹ) Yiddish: רחל f (Rokhl)

female given name

Amharic: ራሔል (raḥel) Bulgarian: Ре́йчъл f (Réjčǎl) (transliteration from English) Catalan: Raquel (ca) f Chinese: Mandarin: 蕾切爾 / 蕾切尔 (Léiqiè'ěr) Danish: Rakel (da) Estonian: Raili Galician: Raquel (gl) f Greek: Ρέιτσελ (el) (Réitsel) (transliteration from English) Greenlandic: Alaakkilli Hausa: Rahila Hawaiian: Lāhela Hebrew: רָחֵל (he) f (Raḥél) Hungarian: Ráchel (hu) Icelandic: Rakel (is) Irish: Ráchael f Maori: Rāhera Norman: Râché f Portuguese: Raquel (pt) Russian: Рэ́йчел (ru) f (Rɛ́jčel) Scottish Gaelic: Raonaid f, Raghnaid f Tigrinya: ራሔል (raḥel) Yiddish: רחל f (rokhl)

Noun

Rachel (plural Rachels)

1. Synonym of Rachel sandwich.

Anagrams

• Lacher

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʁa.ʃɛl/

• Audio (France (Somain)):

  (file)

Proper noun

Rachel f

1. Rachel (biblical figure)
2. a female given name

Anagrams

• lâcher

German

Alternative forms

• Rahel (preferred as a given name, though also infrequent)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈʁaxəl/

• Audio (Germany (Berlin)):

  (file)

Proper noun

Rachel f (proper noun, genitive Rachels or (with an article) Rachel)

1. Rachel (biblical figure)
2. a female given name of rare usage

Declension

Declension of Rachel [feminine]

	singular			plural
	indef.	def.	noun	def.	noun
nominative	eine	die	Rachel	die	Rachels, Racheln
genitive	einer	der	Rachels, Rachel1	der	Rachels, Racheln
dative	einer	der	Rachel	den	Rachels, Racheln
accusative	eine	die	Rachel	die	Rachels, Racheln

¹With an article.

Latin

Etymology

From Ancient Greek Ῥαχήλ (Rhakhḗl), from Biblical Hebrew רָחֵל (Rāḥēl)

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [ˈraː.kʰeːɫ]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [ˈraː.kel]

Proper noun

Rāchēl f sg (genitive Rāchēlis); third declension

1. a female given name from Hebrew

Declension

Third-declension noun, singular only.

	singular
nominative	Rāchēl
genitive	Rāchēlis
dative	Rāchēlī
accusative	Rāchēlem
ablative	Rāchēle
vocative	Rāchēl

Scottish Gaelic

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈrˠaxəl/

Proper noun

Rachel f (genitive Racheil)

1. Rachel (biblical figure)

See also

• Raonaid, Raghnaid (woman's name often Anglicized as Rachel)