rag week

9.1

A week when students hold events to raise money for charity

noun
/ræɡ wiːk/

: semana de recaudación

The university’s rag week raised thousands for local charities this year.

Examples

During rag week, students organized a fancy dress parade through the city center.
Some of the most memorable events on campus happen during rag week.
It's rag week at the university!
Many students participate in rag week activities.
During rag week, students organized a fancy dress parade through the city center.
The university's rag week raised thousands for local charities this year.
Some of the most memorable events on campus happen during rag week.

Synonyms

rag

vsrag week

Jargon

5 9.1

A time at university when students dress up and parade to raise money

refers to a specific week focused on events and entertainments for charity

Surface Forms

rag week singular

rag weeks plural

Morphology

rag + week

The compound is directly compositional: 'rag' (a student-organized charity event/week) combined with 'week' simply specifies the time period, so the overall meaning is immediately derivable from the constituents. Although the concept is culturally British, knowing the provided senses of both words lets a B1 learner infer the meaning without prior exposure.

Etymology

Rag week may come from students wearing old rags and collecting money in the streets for 'charity'. So today rag week means a week of fun events at university to raise money for 'charity'.