Uncertain; the word is similar to other words from Germanic or Romance languages listed in the table below, but the connection between the English word and those words is unclear. One suggestion is that they ultimately derive from the town of Arras in France, known for its cloth and wool industries (whence arras (“tapestry, wall hanging”)); compare German Rasch (“lightly woven silk or (usually) worsted fabric”) (said to be from Middle High German arrasch (“arras”), and ultimately from the name of the town), and the obsolete names for the fabric, Catalan drap de arraz, drap d'Arraç, Spanish paño de ras (literally “cloth of Arras”). The Oxford English Dictionary states that even if rash did not originally derive from Arras, the name of the town could have influenced the English word. possible cognates * Catalan ras (“smooth fabric woven from silk”) (also raç (obsolete)) * Danish rask (“thin, coarse woollen cloth usually made from worsted”) (also rasch (obsolete), derived from German) * Dutch ras (“woven silk or (usually) worsted fabric”) (also rasch (obsolete, rare), rass (obsolete)) * Middle French ras (modern French ras (“various types of short-nap cloth”)) * German Rasch, Low German Rasch (“lightly woven silk or (usually) worsted fabric”) (archaic or historical) * Italian raso (“smooth fabric woven from silk”), rascia (“serge”) * Late Latin rasum (“some form of fabric”), pannus rasus (“satin”) * Old Occitan ras (modern Occitan ras (“smooth fabric woven from silk”); also rac (obsolete)) * Spanish raso (“smooth fabric woven from silk; other types of fabric”) * Swedish rask (“thin woollen cloth usually made from worsted; similar cloth made from silk”) (also rasch (archaic), rass (obsolete))

adventurous • Blizzard • cockbrained • daring • devil-may-care • dire • efflorescence • epidemic • foolhardy • headstrong • heady • heedless • hotheaded • impetuous • imprudent • impulsive • inconsiderate • instant • lavish • precipitant • precipitate • precipitous • precipitously • quick-and-dirty • rashly • reckless • roseola • sudden • temeritous • unthinking