English

edit

Etymology

edit

From Middle English re-, from Old French re-, from Latin re-, red- (back; anew; again; against), of uncertain origin but conjectured by Watkins to be from Proto-Indo-European *wret-, a metathetic alteration of *wert- (to turn). Displaced native English ed-, eft-, a-, with-/wither-, gain-/again-.

Pronunciation

edit

Prefix

edit

re-

  1. again, anew
    re- + ‎new → ‎renew (to make something new again)
    re- + ‎commit → ‎recommit (to commit an act again)
    re- + ‎heat → ‎reheat (to heat something that has cooled off)
  2. a completive or intensification of the base; up, a-, out
    reletter, relead, rebronze (examples from: [1])
  3. back, backward
    reject, reply, resist

Usage notes

edit
  • The pronunciation varies depending on the word, with /ɹiː/, /ɹɪ/ (some pronunciations), /ɹɛ/ found in words like replay, resist and revolution, respectively.
  • The hyphen is not normally included in words formed using this prefix, except when the absence of a hyphen would make the meaning unclear. Hyphens are used in the following cases:
    • Sometimes in new coinages and nonce words.
      stir and re-stir the mixture
    • When the word that the prefix is combined with begins with a capital letter.
      re-Christianise
    • When the word that the prefix is combined with begins with another re-.
      re-record
    • In British usage, when the word that the prefix is combined with begins with e.
      re-entry (North American: reentry)
    • When the word formed is identical in form to another word in which re- does not have any of the senses listed above.
      The chairs have been re-covered (covered again)
      The chairs have been recovered (obtained back)
  • A dieresis may be used instead of a hyphen, as in reëntry. This usage is now rare, but extant; see diaeresis (diacritic) for examples and discussion.
  • re- is highly productive, to the point of being almost grammaticalized — almost any verb can have re- applied, especially in colloquial speech. Notable exceptions to this include all forms of be and the modal verbs can, should, etc. When used productively, it is always pronounced /ɹiː/.

Synonyms

edit

Derived terms

edit

Translations

edit

See also

edit

References

edit
  • re-”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.
  1. ^ Oxford English Dictionary, s.v. “re- (prefix),” December 2023, https://doi.org/10.1093/OED/1031113569.

Anagrams

edit

Catalan

edit

Etymology

edit

From Latin re-.

Prefix

edit

re-

  1. re- (again)
    re- + ‎fer (to do) → ‎refer (to redo)
  2. intensifier for adjectives and adverbs
    Synonym: -íssim
    re- + ‎vell (old) → ‎revell (very old)
  3. great-, grand- (used to denote the removal of one generation)
    Synonym: bes-
    re- + ‎nebot (nephew) → ‎renebot (grandnephew)

Derived terms

edit

Further reading

edit

Chuukese

edit

Prefix

edit

re-

  1. (inflected as a noun) with
  2. (subject marker for tense modifying adverbs) they

Esperanto

edit

Etymology

edit

From Latin re-.

Prefix

edit

re-

  1. indicates repetition, again
  2. indicates a return to previous state, back
  3. indicates an action performed reciprocally, back (e.g., to hit back, to talk back)

Derived terms

edit

Franco-Provençal

edit

Etymology

edit

From Latin re-.

Prefix

edit

re- (ORB, broad)

  1. Attaches to verbs, often adding a sense of repetition or reversion.

Derived terms

edit

French

edit

Etymology

edit

From Latin re-.

Pronunciation

edit

Prefix

edit

re-

  1. re-
    re- + ‎marcher (to function) → ‎remarcher (to function again)
  2. meaningless generic derivation prefix, especially as r-. From semantic bleaching of sense 1 followed by the unprefixed terms becoming obsolete or diverging in meaning.

Usage notes

edit

This is only used when the stem starts with a consonant; otherwise, ré- or r- are used.

Derived terms

edit

See also

edit

German

edit

Pronunciation

edit

Prefix

edit

re-

  1. re-

Derived terms

edit

Hungarian

edit

Etymology

edit

From Latin re- (again; back).

Pronunciation

edit

Prefix

edit

re-

  1. indicates repetition, again
  2. indicates a return to previous state, back

Derived terms

edit

Interlingua

edit

Etymology

edit

From Latin re-.

Prefix

edit

re-

  1. back, backwards
  2. again; prefix added to various words to indicate an action being done again, or like the other usages indicated above under English.

Derived terms

edit

Italian

edit

Etymology

edit

Borrowed from Latin re-. The prefix re- is borrowed from Latin, while the variant ri- is inherited from Latin.[1]

Prefix

edit

re-

  1. re-
    Synonym: ri-

Usage notes

edit
  • The prefix re- normally replaces ri- before words beginning with i, for euphonic reasons.

Derived terms

edit

References

edit
  1. ^ Migliorini, Bruno with Aldo Duro (1950) Prontuario etimologico della lingua italiana (in Italian), Paravia

Latin

edit

Etymology

edit

    From Proto-Italic *wre- (again), of uncertain origin (OED); see the Proto-Italic entry for more.[1]

    Prefix

    edit

    re-

    1. back, backwards
    2. un-, de-[2]
      re- + ‎glūtinō (glue) → ‎reglūtinō (unglue, separate)
      re- + ‎neō (spin, weave, entwine) → ‎reneō (unspin, unravel)
      re- + ‎gelō (freeze, congeal) → ‎regelō (thaw, unfreeze)
    3. again; prefix added to various words to indicate an action being done again, or like the other usages indicated above under English.

    Usage notes

    edit

    The alternative form red- occurs before vowels or h in old formations; it is used with the linking vowel -i- in the word redivīvus. The -d- can be compared to that in sēditiō (compare sē- and sed) and in prōd-, antid-, postid- (alternative forms of prō-, ante-, post-). It may originate from the particle *de[3] or from the use of -d as an archaic ablative singular ending. The use of the form re- before vowels, as in reaedifico, reinvito, is not seen until Late Latin.[3] (See Lewis & Short, A Latin Dictionary, 1897, s.v. "re" and "D").

    Before consonants, its usual form is rĕ- with short /e/, but the following consonant is sometimes doubled. In some cases, such as reccidī, the double consonant comes from syncope of an originally reduplicated syllable of the base word: compare the unprefixed form cecidī. In other cases, such as redducō, relligiō, relliquiae, the double consonant may have arisen from preconsonantal use of red-, with assimilation of -d- to the following consonant.

    Derived terms

    edit

    Descendants

    edit
    • Catalan: re-
    • English: re-
    • French: re-, ré-, r-
    • Galician: re-
    • Interlingua: re-
    • Italian: re-, ri-
    • Norman: re-, èr-
    • Occitan: re-
    • Picard: ar-
    • Portuguese: re-
    • Romanian: ră-, re-
    • Spanish: re-

    References

    edit
    1. ^ De Vaan, Michiel (2008) “re-, red-”, in Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 7), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 516
    2. ^ R. B. Burnaby (1905) Elegiac Selections from Ovid, page 98
    3. 3.0 3.1 Lindsay, Wallace Martin (1894) The Latin Language, page 591

    Middle French

    edit

    Prefix

    edit

    re-

    1. re- (again; once more)

    Neapolitan

    edit

    Etymology

    edit

    Inherited from Latin re-.

    Prefix

    edit

    re-

    1. re-

    Derived terms

    edit

    Norman

    edit

    Alternative forms

    edit

    Etymology

    edit

    From Old French re-, from Latin re-.

    Prefix

    edit

    re-

    1. re-

    Derived terms

    edit

    Norwegian Bokmål

    edit

    Etymology

    edit

    From Latin re-.

    Prefix

    edit

    re-

    1. re-

    References

    edit

    Norwegian Nynorsk

    edit

    Etymology

    edit

    From Latin re-.

    Prefix

    edit

    re-

    1. re-

    References

    edit

    Occitan

    edit

    Etymology

    edit

    From Latin re-.

    Prefix

    edit

    re-

    1. re-

    Derived terms

    edit

    Old French

    edit

    Prefix

    edit

    re-

    1. re- (again; once more)

    Polish

    edit

    Etymology

    edit

    Learned borrowing from Latin re-.

    Pronunciation

    edit

    Prefix

    edit

    re-

    1. re- (again, anew)
    2. re- (back, backward)

    Derived terms

    edit

    Further reading

    edit
    • re- in Polish dictionaries at PWN

    Portuguese

    edit

    Etymology

    edit

    From Old Galician-Portuguese re-, from Latin re-.

    Pronunciation

    edit
     

    Prefix

    edit

    re-

    1. re- (forms verbs indicating that the action is being done again)
      re- + ‎fazer (to do) → ‎refazer (to redo)

    Derived terms

    edit

    Romanian

    edit

    Etymology

    edit

    Borrowed from Latin re-. The form ră- only appears in a few inherited words.

    Pronunciation

    edit

    Prefix

    edit

    re-

    1. re-

    Slovak

    edit

    Etymology

    edit

    Learned borrowing from Latin re-.

    Prefix

    edit

    re-

    1. re- (again, anew)
    2. re- (back, backward)

    Derived terms

    edit

    Spanish

    edit

    Etymology 1

    edit

    From Latin re-.

    Prefix

    edit

    re-

    1. again
      re- + ‎construir → ‎reconstruir
    2. backwards
      re- + ‎fluir → ‎refluir
    3. opposition
      re- + ‎pugnar → ‎repugnar

    Etymology 2

    edit

    Of Proto-Celtic origin, cognate with Irish ró- (very). (Can this(+) etymology be sourced?)

    Prefix

    edit

    re-

    1. forms superlatives from adjectives
      Synonyms: muy, -ísimo
      re- + ‎bueno (good) → ‎rebueno (great)
      re- + ‎chulo (cute) → ‎rechulo (very cute)
    Derived terms
    edit
    Derived terms
    edit

    Further reading

    edit

    Swedish

    edit

    Prefix

    edit

    re-

    1. re-; doing something again
      Synonyms: åter-, om-

    Derived terms

    edit

    Anagrams

    edit
      NODES
    Done 3
    eth 3
    see 9