Word Origin & History
riteearly 14c., from L. ritus "religious observance or ceremony, custom, usage," perhaps from PIE base *re(i)- "to count, number" (cf. Gk. arithmos "number," O.E. rim "number"). Rite of passage (1909) is translated from Fr. rite de passage, coined by French anthropologist Arnold van Gennep (18731957).