rand

Reading level: hard

Estimated CEFR level: C2 — Proficiency

Estimated from word frequency; not an official CEFR classification.

Definition

  1. noun the basic unit of money in South Africa; equal to 100 cents
  2. noun United States writer (born in Russia) noted for her polemical novels and political conservativism (1905-1982)
  3. noun a rocky region in the southern Transvaal in northeastern South Africa; contains rich gold deposits and coal and manganese

Etymology

From Middle English rand, from Old English rand (“edge, border, margin, rim, shore”), from Proto-West Germanic *rand, from Proto-Germanic *randaz, *randō (“edge, rim, crust”), from Proto-Indo-European *rem- (“to rest, prop or support oneself”). Cognate with Dutch rand (“edge, border, outskirts, rim”), German Rand (“edge, border, margin, rim, outskirts”), Swedish rand (“rand, stripe, edge, verge”). Related to rind.

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