251: ravenous, ravage and raven Aug 16, 2015

The word 'ravenous' comes from late Middle English through Old French 'ravineus', from 'raviner' which means ‘to ravage’. The word is an adjectival form of the now-archaic verb, 'raven' which comes from the late 15th century (in the sense ‘take as spoil’). The word was based on Latin word, 'rapina' which means ‘pillage’.