ရဲ

Meaning: “bold, heroic”

From Proto-Tibeto-Burman *s-(r/y/w)ay (“bold, heroic”). Cognate with Mizo [Term?] (huāi, “bold, daring”) (STEDT). Luce additionally adduces Old Chinese 烈 (OC *red, “ardent, fiery”) as a cognate. This is semantically appealing, though the final in the Old Chinese reconstruction does not seem to match. Starostin's comparison with 師 (OC *sri, “military division; leader, instructor”) is more phonetically sound. The senses of "brave", "bright red", "rampant", and "police" are all grouped together by MED.