Riga

See also: Appendix:Variations of "riga"

English

Etymology 1

From Latvian Rīga, of disputed origin:

• Possibly a form of Riege, the German name for the Rīdzene, a tributary of the Daugava river.
• Possibly from rija (“threshing barn”), the j becoming a g in German (note that English geographer Richard Hakluyt calls the city Rie in 1589, and that German historian Dionysius Fabricius confirms in 1610 the origin of Rīga from rija).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɹiːɡə/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• Rhymes: -iːɡə

Proper noun

Riga

1. The capital city of Latvia.

   Alternative form: Rīga

   • 2014, Zigmunds Skujins, Flesh-Coloured Dominoes:

     [The city is] at least ten Rigas and Jelgavas put together! Palace upon palace, bridge upon bridge, tower upon tower.

2. (metonymic) The Latvian government.
3. A place in the United States:
   1. A township and unincorporated community therein, in Lenawee County, Michigan.
   2. A town in Monroe County, New York.

Derived terms

• Rigan

Translations

capital of Latvia

• Afrikaans: Riga
• Albanian: Riga (sq) f, Rigë f (indefinite)
• Arabic: رِيغَا f (rīḡā), رِيجَا f (rīgā)

  Egyptian Arabic: ريجا f (rīgā)

  Hijazi Arabic: ريقا f (rīga)

• Armenian: Ռիգա (Ṙiga)
• Asturian: Riga (ast)
• Azerbaijani: Riqa (az)
• Belarusian: Ры́га f (Rýha), Ры́ґа f (Rýga) (Taraškievica, also)
• Bengali: রিগা (bn) (riga)
• Bulgarian: Ри́га f (Ríga)
• Burmese: ရီဂါ (riga)
• Carpathian Rusyn: Рі́ґа f (Ríga)
• Cherokee: ᎵᎦ (liga)
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 里加 (lei⁵ gaa¹)

  Mandarin: 里加 (zh) (Lǐjiā)

• Czech: Riga (cs) f
• Danish: Riga (da) n
• Dutch: Riga n
• Esperanto: Rigo (eo)
• Estonian: Riia (et)
• Finnish: Riika (fi)
• French: Riga (fr)
• Georgian: რიგა (ka) (riga)
• German: Riga (de) n
• Greek: Ρίγα (el) f (Ríga)
• Hebrew: רִיגָה f (ríga)
• Hindi: रीगा m (rīgā)
• Hungarian: Riga (hu)
• Icelandic: Ríga f
• Indonesian: Riga (id)
• Irish: Ríge f
• Italian: Riga f
• Japanese: リガ (ja) (Riga)
• Kazakh: Рига (Rıyga)
• Khmer: រីហ្កា (km) (riigiə)
• Korean: 리가 (ko) (Riga)
• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: Rîga (ku)

• Kyrgyz: Рига (ky) (Riga)
• Lao: ຣີກາ (rī kā)
• Latgalian: Reiga
• Latvian: Rīga (lv) f
• Lithuanian: Ryga (lt) f
• Livonian: Rīgõ
• Macedonian: Рига f (Riga)
• Malay: Riga
• Maltese: Riga
• Marathi: रिगा n (rigā)
• Mongolian:

  Cyrillic: Рига (Riga)

• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: Riga (no)

• Pashto: ريګا f (regã)
• Persian: ریگا (rigâ)
• Polish: Ryga (pl) f
• Portuguese: Riga (pt) f
• Punjabi: ਰੀਗਾ (rīgā)
• Romanian: Riga (ro)
• Russian: Ри́га (ru) f (Ríga)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: Рига f

  Latin: Riga f

• Silesian: Ryga f
• Slovak: Riga f
• Slovene: Riga f
• Spanish: Riga (es)
• Swedish: Riga (sv) n
• Tajik: Рига (Riga)
• Tamil: ரீகா (rīkā)
• Tatar: Рига (Riğa)
• Thai: รีกา (rii-gâa)
• Turkish: Riga (tr)
• Turkmen: Riga
• Ukrainian: Ри́га (uk) f (Rýha), Ри́ґа f (Rýga)
• Urdu: ریگا m (rīgā)
• Uyghur: رىگا (riga)
• Uzbek: Riga
• Vietnamese: Ri-ga (vi)
• Yiddish: ריגע n (rige)

Etymology 2

Borrowed from Italian Riga and Greek Ρήγα (Ríga).

Proper noun

Riga (plural Rigas)

1. A surname.

Statistics

• According to the 2010 United States Census, Riga is the 40082^nd most common surname in the United States, belonging to 547 individuals. Riga is most common among White (93.78%) individuals.

Further reading

• Hanks, Patrick, editor (2003), “Riga”, in Dictionary of American Family Names, volume 3, New York: Oxford University Press, →ISBN.

Anagrams

• ragi, Gair, Ağrı, agri, agri-, gari

Afrikaans

Proper noun

Riga

1. Riga (the capital city of Latvia)

Albanian

Proper noun

Riga

1. definite nominative singular of Rigë

Czech

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈrɪɡa]

• Audio:

  (file)

• Audio:

  (file)

Proper noun

Riga f (relational adjective rižský, demonym Rižan)

1. Riga (the capital city of Latvia)

Declension

Declension of Riga (sg-only hard feminine)

	singular
nominative	Riga
genitive	Rigy
dative	Rize
accusative	Rigu
vocative	Rigo
locative	Rize
instrumental	Rigou

Further reading

• “Riga”, in Příruční slovník jazyka českého (in Czech), 1935–1957
• “Riga”, in Slovník spisovného jazyka českého (in Czech), 1960–1971, 1989
• “Riga”, in Internetová jazyková příručka (in Czech), 2008–2026

Danish

Proper noun

Riga

1. Riga (the capital city of Latvia)

Dutch

Proper noun

Riga n

1. Riga (the capital city of Latvia)

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʁi.ɡa/

• Audio (France (Brétigny-sur-Orge)):

  (file)

Proper noun

Riga ?

1. Riga (the capital city of Latvia)

Anagrams

• agir, gira

German

Pronunciation

• Audio (Germany (Berlin)):

  (file)

Proper noun

Riga n (proper noun, genitive Rigas or (optionally with an article) Riga)

1. Riga (the capital city of Latvia)

Hungarian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈriɡɒ]
• Hyphenation: Ri‧ga
• Rhymes: -ɡɒ

Proper noun

Riga

1. Riga (the capital city of Latvia)

Declension

Inflection (stem in long/high vowel, back harmony)

	singular	plural
nominative	Riga	—
accusative	Rigát	—
dative	Rigának	—
instrumental	Rigával	—
causal-final	Rigáért	—
translative	Rigává	—
terminative	Rigáig	—
essive-formal	Rigaként	—
essive-modal	—	—
inessive	Rigában	—
superessive	Rigán	—
adessive	Rigánál	—
illative	Rigába	—
sublative	Rigára	—
allative	Rigához	—
elative	Rigából	—
delative	Rigáról	—
ablative	Rigától	—
non-attributive possessive – singular	Rigáé	—
non-attributive possessive – plural	Rigáéi	—

Possessive forms of Riga

possessor	single possession	multiple possessions
1st person sing.	Rigám	—
2nd person sing.	Rigád	—
3rd person sing.	Rigája	—
1st person plural	Rigánk	—
2nd person plural	Rigátok	—
3rd person plural	Rigájuk	—

Derived terms

• rigai

Italian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈri.ɡa/
• Rhymes: -iɡa
• Hyphenation: Rì‧ga

Proper noun

Riga f

1. Riga (the capital city of Latvia)

Anagrams

• Agri, agri, agri-, gira

Latin

Etymology

Derived from Latvian Rīga.

Proper noun

Riga f sg (genitive Rigae); first declension

1. Riga (the capital city of Latvia)
   • 1578, Alexander Guagnini, Sarmatiae Europeae descriptio, quae Regnum Poloniae, Lituaniam, Samogitiam, Russiam, Masouiam, Prussiam, Pomeraniam, Liuoniam, et Moschouiae, Tartariaeque partem complectitur [Description of European Sarmatia, Which Encompasses the Kingdom of Poland, Lithuania, Samogitia, Russia, Mazovia, Prussia, Pomerania, Livonia, Muscovy, and Part of Tartary], Liuoniae totius cum suis Prouinciis, Ciuitatibus, Castris, et Commendaturis, siue Palatinatibus, etc. Succincta descriptio [A succinct description of the whole of Livonia, with its provinces, cities, castles, and commanderies or palatinates, etc.], folio 3r:

     Blokavs Munitio inter Rigam & Dinamunt ad Dwinam condita

     Blokaus is a fortification built on the Dvina between Riga and Dünamünde.

Declension

First-declension noun, singular only.

	singular
nominative	Riga
genitive	Rigae
dative	Rigae
accusative	Rigam
ablative	Rigā
vocative	Riga

Derived terms

• Rigensis

Norwegian Bokmål

View of Riga from St. Peter's church in Latvia

Etymology

From Latvian Rīga (“Riga”), where the origin is disputed:

• Possibly from Livonian ringa (“loop”), referring to the ancient natural harbor formed by the tributary loop of the Daugava river.
• Possibly a form of Riege, the German name for the Rīdzene, a tributary of the Daugava river.
• Possibly from rija (“threshing barn”), the j becoming a g in German (note that English geographer Richard Hakluyt calls the city Rie in 1589, and that German historian Dionysius Fabricius confirms in 1610 the origin of Rīga from rija (“threshing barn”), from Livonian rī’, rī’j or from Estonian rehi, both from Proto-Finnic *riihi (“cabin for drying and threshing grain”), from earlier *riŋeše.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈriːɡa/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -iːɡa
• Hyphenation: Ri‧ga

Proper noun

Riga

1. Riga (the capital city of Latvia)

   Riga er Latvias økonomiske og kulturelle sentrum

   Riga is Latvia's economic and cultural center

Derived terms

• rigabalsam (“Riga balm”)
• Rigabukten / Rigabukta (“Gulf of Riga”)

References

• “Riga” in Store norske leksikon

Anagrams

• gira

Portuguese

Pronunciation

 

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈʁi.ɡɐ/ [ˈhi.ɡɐ]

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈʁi.ɡɐ/ [ˈhi.ɡɐ]
  • (Rio de Janeiro) IPA^(key): /ˈʁi.ɡɐ/ [ˈχi.ɡɐ]

 

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /ˈʁi.ɡɐ/ [ˈʁi.ɣɐ]

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /ˈʁi.ɡɐ/ [ˈʁi.ɣɐ]
  • (Southern Portugal) IPA^(key): /ˈʁi.ɡɐ/

• Hyphenation: Ri‧ga

Proper noun

Riga f

1. Riga (the capital city of Latvia)

Serbo-Croatian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /riːɡa/
• Hyphenation: ri‧ga

Proper noun

Rīga f (Cyrillic spelling Рӣга)

1. Riga (the capital city of Latvia)

Declension

Declension of Riga

	singular
nominative	Rīga
genitive	Rīgē
dative	Rīgi
accusative	Rīgu
vocative	Rīgo
locative	Rīgi
instrumental	Rīgōm

Slovak

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /riɡa/, [ˈriɡa]
• Rhymes: -iɡa
• Hyphenation: Ri‧ga

Proper noun

Riga f (genitive singular Rigy, declension pattern of žena)

1. Riga (the capital city of Latvia)

References

• “Riga”, in Slovníkový portál Jazykovedného ústavu Ľ. Štúra SAV [Dictionary portal of the Ľ. Štúr Institute of Linguistics, Slovak Academy of Science] (in Slovak), https://slovnik.juls.savba.sk, 2003–2026

Slovene

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /rìːɡa/

Proper noun

Ríga f

1. Riga (the capital city of Latvia)

Declension

The diacritics used in this section of the entry are non-tonal. If you are a native tonal speaker, please help by adding the tonal marks.

Feminine, a-stem
nominative	Ríga
genitive	Ríge
	singular
nominative (imenovȃlnik)	Ríga
genitive (rodȋlnik)	Ríge
dative (dajȃlnik)	Rígi
accusative (tožȋlnik)	Rígo
locative (mẹ̑stnik)	Rígi
instrumental (orọ̑dnik)	Rígo

Related terms

• Rížan / Rížanka
• ríški

References

• “Riga”, in Slovarji Inštituta za slovenski jezik Frana Ramovša ZRC SAZU, portal Fran
• “Riga”, in Termania, Amebis
• See also the general references

Spanish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈriɡa/ [ˈri.ɣ̞a]
• Rhymes: -iɡa
• Syllabification: Ri‧ga

Proper noun

Riga ?

1. Riga (the capital city of Latvia)

Related terms

• rigués

Swedish

Proper noun

Riga n (genitive Rigas)

1. Riga (the capital city of Latvia)

Anagrams

• gira

Turkish

Etymology

Inherited from Ottoman Turkish ریغا (Riga).

Proper noun

Riga

1. Riga (the capital city of Latvia)

Declension

Declension of Riga

	singular
nominative	Riga
definite accusative	Riga'yı
dative	Riga'ya
locative	Riga'da
ablative	Riga'dan
genitive	Riga'nın