wrack means the remains of something; a wreck. Lexicurio rates it Rare gem — a strength score of 77 out of 100.
wrack is pronounced /ɹæk/.
Why “wrack” is a great word
WRACK — [Noun/Verb] A state of ruin or the act of causing ruin, steeped in retribution. Its etymology is a grim merger: from Middle English wrake, wrache, wreche, a fusion of Old English wracu, wræc ("misery, suffering") and Old English wrǣċ ("vengeance, revenge"). Unlike "rack," which suggests the specific torment of tension and stretching, or "wreck," which neutrally denotes physical destruction, "wrack" is ruin imbued with punitive intent—destruction as a settled score. It is the salt-bleached ribs of a ship dashed upon a desolate shore, the splintered door-frame where the bailiff forced entry, and the acrid scent of charred beams in a cold hearth. This is the quiet evidence that suffering and vengeance are branches from the same dark root.
noun
- The remains of something; a wreck.“Lytle was already moaning in shame, fallen back in bed with his hand across his face like he'd just washed up somewhere, a piece of wrack.”
- Vengeance; revenge; persecution; punishment; consequence; trouble.“The dead mans corps hath made ſome Serpents weépe, / Such rewth may ryſe in beaſts of bloudy race: / And yet can man (which bragges aboue the reſt) / Uſe wracke for rewth? can murder like him beſt?”
- Ruin; destruction.“Therefore, in sign her treasure suffered wrack,
Since Hero's time hath half the world been black.”
- Remnant from a shipwreck as washed ashore; flotsam or jetsam.
- The right to claim such items.
- Any marine vegetation cast up on shore, especially seaweed of the family Fucaceae.
verb
- To execute vengeance on; avenge.
- To worry; tease; torment.
- To wreck, especially a ship.“Nor did the croakers have long to wait. The second night after the drowning of the mate the little yacht was suddenly wracked from stem to stern. About one o’clock in the morning there was a terrific impact that threw the slumbering guests and crew from berth and bunk. A mighty shudder ran through the frail craft; she lay far over to starboard; the engines stopped.”