rasp

American  

[rasp, rahsp] / ræsp, rɑsp /

verb (used with object)

• rasps,
  present (3rd person singular)
• rasped,
  past participle,  past
• rasping
  present participle

1. to scrape or abrade with a rough instrument.

2. to scrape or rub roughly.

   The glacier rasped the valley floor.

3. to grate upon or irritate.

   The sound rasped his nerves.

4. to utter with a grating sound.

   to rasp out an answer.

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verb (used without object)

• rasps,
  present (3rd person singular)
• rasped,
  past participle,  past
• rasping
  present participle

1. to scrape or grate.

2. to make a grating sound.

noun

• rasps
  plural

1. an act of rasping.

2. a rasping sound.

3. a coarse file, used mainly on wood, having separate conical teeth.

4. (in an insect) a roughened surface used in stridulation.

rasp ¹ British  

/ rɑːsp /

noun

1. a harsh grating noise

2. a coarse file with rows of raised teeth

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verb

1. (tr) to scrape or rub (something) roughly, esp with a rasp; abrade

2. to utter with or make a harsh grating noise

3. to irritate (one's nerves or senses); grate (upon)

rasp ² British  

/ rɑːsp /

noun

1. an informal or Scot word for raspberry

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• rasper
  noun
• raspish
  adjective
• unrasped
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• rasps
  plural

Participles

• rasping
  present
• rasped
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• rasp
  simple
• rasps
  simple
• have rasped
  perfect
• has rasped
  perfect
• am rasping
  progressive
• are rasping
  progressive
• is rasping
  progressive
• have been rasping
  perfect progressive
• has been rasping
  perfect progressive

Past

• rasped
  simple
• had rasped
  perfect
• was rasping
  progressive
• were rasping
  progressive
• had been rasping
  perfect progressive

Future

• will rasp
  simple
• will have rasped
  perfect
• will be rasping
  progressive
• will have been rasping
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of rasp

1200–50; Middle English raspen < Old French rasper to scrape, grate < Germanic; see rape ³

Explanation

When you rasp, you either file wood with a metal tool, or you speak in a harsh, irritating voice. Your rasp-y voice might get you a gig as a lounge singer, but probably not as a preschool teacher. The tool called a rasp is a special kind of wood file that's much coarser than sandpaper, and when you use it, you rasp. If you've ever cared for a horse's hooves, you may have also used a rasp to file them. The "speak gratingly" meaning of rasp comes from the "scraping" sense of the word. If your voice sounds like a rasp against a rough surface, you're rasping.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

rasp rasps rasped rasping

Hopkins’ voice, still deeply familiar as some of film’s most famous characters, including the serial killer Hannibal Lecter and the English butler, James Stevens, from “Remains of the Day,” now has a weathered rasp.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 11, 2026

It’s a light mist, then a transparent tone; a crude rasp, then soft and broken or boldly ringing and round, and often many of the above within a single song.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 11, 2026

But dig deeper, and one will find that Tyler’s discography is brimming with hits that put her unmistakable rasp to thrilling use.

From Salon ● Jul. 9, 2026

Her voice remains a strong point - resonant and flexible, with a hint of the rasp she inherited from her father, Albanian rock singer Dukajin Lipa.

From BBC ● Jun. 20, 2025

Seconds later, sandals rasp on the courtyard stone.

From "An Ember in the Ashes" by Sabaa Tahir

Elordi’s voice rasps with a powerful interior dialogue that narrates the latter part of the 149-minute movie.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 30, 2025

“I need to talk to you,” Biden rasps, then battling COVID-19.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 20, 2025

In the video, released on Monday, a clearly distressed Muonagor, rasps in the Igbo language: "Igbo people, I greet you all."

From BBC ● Mar. 19, 2024

Vocally, the division of labor is pretty straightforward: Paak rasps through his verses with unrelenting wink-wink, then Mars soars through the refrains.

From Washington Post ● Nov. 15, 2021

“I think you can put it together,” she rasps.

From "How to Disappear Completely" by Ali Standish

Hospitalized and on oxygen, Linderman cut a grainy video in which he rasped out “this is how bad it is,” then admitted he had made a catastrophic error by not getting vaccinated.

From Seattle Times ● Sep. 8, 2021

As I rasped Parmesan over top, he would beam as if it were his first glimpse of snow.

From Washington Post ● Jan. 24, 2020

“Testes, testes, one, two, three!” a voice rasped over the sound system in a cheeky Southern drawl.

From New York Times ● Sep. 29, 2018

Jackson, perhaps unable to leave her character's acrimony at the stage door, foiled my attempts to understand how she made sense of A's changing relationship to B and C. "What relationship?" she rasped.

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 26, 2018

The air was so cold it rasped in his throat, as cold as a hardened heart.

From "Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy" by Gary D. Schmidt

Vinicius, who excelled in Madrid's Champions League 6-1 rout of Monaco in midweek, also came close with a rasping effort across Luiz Junior's goal and wide.

From Barron's ● Jan. 24, 2026

He cheerfully refused broadcast interviews because he knew how his rasping vocal chords could be interpreted.

From BBC ● Dec. 23, 2025

Collecting a pass from Reece James, Estevao cut inside, turned Alejandro Balde inside out and then sent a rasping drive into the roof of the net past goalkeeper Joan Garcia.

From BBC ● Nov. 25, 2025

What endures is the rasping byplay, the soaring exasperation, the tango of opposing temperaments finding fleeting common ground.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 27, 2024

"What are you doing in there?" he called out with a rasping voice when the spotlight stopped on Victor.

From "The Thief Lord" by Cornelia Funke