raffle

Meaning

Noun

1. A drawing, often held as a fundraiser, in which tickets or chances are sold to win a prize.
2. (obsolete) A game of dice in which the player who throws three of the same number wins all the stakes.
3. (Philippines) The system by which cases are assigned to judges in multi-sala courts.

Verb

1. (often, transitive) To award something by means of a raffle or random drawing.
2. (intransitive) To participate in a raffle.

Synonyms

lottery

draw

draw for

draw lots

raffle off

lottery-ticket

drawing

lucky dip

bingo

draw for anything

gamble

lot

shake

🫨

sweepstakes

tombola

trash

Translations

tombola

rifa

Verlosung

Tombola

sorteo

verloting

lotteria

loterie

loterij

verlosen

sorteggiare

rifa

sorteggio

λαχείο

riffa

Pronounced as (IPA)

/ˈɹæfl̩/

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English: rafle

Cognate with Middle Dutch: raffel

Cognate with German: raffen

Cognate with Old English: hreppan

In summary

From Middle English rafle, from Old French rafle, raffle (“dice game", also "plundering”), from rafler (“to snatch, seize, carry off”), from Frankish *raffolōn, from Proto-Germanic *hrapōną, *hrēpōną (“to scratch, touch, pluck out, snatch”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)kreb(h)-, *(s)kerb(h)- (“to turn, bend, shrink”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ker- (“to turn, bend”). Cognate with Middle Dutch raffel (“dice game”), German raffen (“to snatch away, sweep off”), Old English hreppan (“to touch, treat, attack”).