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Origin and history of raw

raw(adj.)

Middle English raue, from Old English hreaw, hreow "uncooked," from Proto-Germanic *khrawaz (source also of Old Norse hrar, Danish raa, Old Saxon hra, Middle Dutch rau, Dutch rauw, Old High German hrawer, German roh), from PIE root *kreue- "raw flesh."

Of skin, "tender, sore, abraded," from late 14c.; of persons, "crude or rude from want of experience, unskilled, youthfully ignorant," from c. 1500; of weather, "damp and sharply chilly" recorded from 1540s. Also used in Middle English of unspun silk, unfulled cloth, untanned hides, etc. Related: Rawly; rawness.

Raw material "unmanufactured material, material for fabrication in its natural state" is from 1740; the notion is of "in a rudimentary condition, in the state of natural growth or formation." In names of colors or pigments (raw umber, raw siena, etc.) by 1688 in this same sense.

Of data, measurements, etc., "not yet processed or adjusted," 1904. Phrase in the raw "naked" (1921) is from the raw "exposed flesh," which is attested from 1823. Raw deal "harsh treatment" is attested by 1893. Raw bar "bar selling raw oysters" is by 1907.

Entries linking to raw

raw-boned(adj.)

"having little flesh on the bones, gaunt," 1590s (Shakespeare), from raw (adj.) + bone (n.).

raw-head(n.)

also rawhead, name of a nursery specter or "scare-child" (usually coupled with bloody-bones), early 16c., from raw (adj.) + head (n.).

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Trends of raw

adapted from books.google.com/ngrams/ with a 7-year moving average; ngrams are probably unreliable.

More to explore

altogether
"wholly, entirely, completely," early 13c., altogedere, a strengthened form of all (also see together); used in the sense of "a whole" from 1660s. OED notes, "There is a common tendency to write altogether where all together is logically preferable," and gives examples from 1765.
new
Middle English neue, from Old English neowe, niowe, earlier niwe "made or established for the first time, fresh, recently made or grown; novel, unheard-of, different from the old; untried, inexperienced, unused," from Proto-Germanic *neuja- (source also of Old Saxon niuwi, Old Fr
bleak
c. 1300, bleik, "pale, pallid," from Old Norse bleikr "pale, whitish, blond," from Proto-Germanic *blaika- "shining, white" (source also of Old Saxon blek "pale, shining," Dutch bleek, Old High German bleih, German bleich), from PIE root *bhel- (1) "to shine, flash, burn," also "
recrudescence
1707, of wounds, "a becoming raw again, a breaking out afresh," a noun formed in English or French on classical models from...stem of Latin recrudescere "re-open" (of wounds), literally "become raw again," from re- "again" (see re-) + crudescere,...verb from crudus "raw" (see crude (adj.)), + inchoative suffix -escere....
carpaccio
"raw meat or fish served as an appetizer," 1975, from Italian, often connected to the name of Renaissance painter Vittore...without any plausible explanation except perhaps that his pictures often feature an orange-red hue reminiscent of some raw...Cipriani, the owner of Harry's Bar [in Venice], claimed to have first served it around 1950 for a customer who demanded raw...Over the decades the term has broadened out to cover any raw ingredient, including fish and even fruit, sliced thinly....
sienna
Burnt sienna is the raw material roasted in a furnace before powdering....It is, like raw sienna, translucent in body. [Century Dictionary]...
salad
late 14c., salade, "raw herbs cut up and variously dressed," from Old French salade (14c.) and Medieval Latin salata, both...In reference to the raw herbs and vegetables themselves, in U.S. it is colloquially limited to lettuce (by 1838)....Whether the point is that youth, like salad, is raw, or that salad is highly flavoured & youth loves high flavours, or...
tender
"soft, easily injured," early 13c., from Old French tendre "soft, delicate; young" (11c.), from Latin tenerem (nominative tener) "soft, delicate; of tender age, youthful," from a derivative of PIE root *ten- "to stretch," on the notion of "stretched," hence "thin," hence "weak" o
Eros
god of love, late 14c., from Greek eros (plural erotes), "god or personification of love; (carnal) love," from eran, eramai, erasthai "to desire," which is of uncertain origin. Beekes suggests it is from Pre-Greek. The Freudian sense of "urge to self-preservation and sexual pleas
rose
a fragrant shrub noted for its beauty and its thorns, cultivated from remote antiquity, Old English rose, from Latin rosa (source of Italian and Spanish rosa, French rose; also source of Dutch roos, German Rose, Swedish ros, Serbo-Croatian ruža, Polish róża, Russian roza, Lithuan

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