Wiktionary

re-

See also: Appendix:Variations of "re"

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
    renew, recommit, reheat
  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

English terms prefixed with re-

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

Catalan terms prefixed with re-

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

Esperanto terms prefixed with re-

French edit

Etymology edit

From Latin re-.

Pronunciation edit

  • IPA(key): /ʁə/
  • Audio(file)

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

French terms prefixed with re-

See also edit

German edit

Pronunciation edit

Prefix edit

re-

  1. re-

Derived terms edit

German terms prefixed with re-

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

Hungarian verbs prefixed with re-

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

Interlingua terms prefixed with re-

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

Italian terms prefixed with re-

References edit

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

Latin edit

Etymology edit

The Latin prefix rĕ- is from Proto-Italic *wre (“again”), which has a parallel in Umbrian re-, but its further etymology is uncertain (OED). While it carries a general sense of "back" or "backwards", its precise sense is not always clear, and its great productivity in classical Latin has the tendency to obscure its original meaning.

Watkins proposes a metathesis of Proto-Indo-European *wert- (“to turn”), while de Vaan suggests Proto-Indo-European *ure- (“back”), which may be found in Proto-Slavic *rakъ (“crayfish, lobster”) (tentatively, in an original sense *“looking backwards”) and Albanian rrë- (“back”, preverb), unless the latter is borrowed from Latin.

Prefix edit

re-

  1. back, backwards
  2. un-, de-[1]
    ‎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 prefix anciently also occurs in the form red-, where the -d- is a remnant of the ancient characteristic of the ablative, e.g. in red-do, and with a compositional -i- in redi-vivus. This feature is shared with the preposition se- (originally identical with the conjunction sed), and also in prod-, antid-, postid- (see Lewis & Short, A Latin Dictionary, 1897, s.v. "re" and "D").

The -d- is found before vowels and h, but in later Latin is dropped, as in e.g. reaedifico, reinvito. Assimilation of the d before consonants produced the forms relligio, relliquiae, reccido; and the suppression of the d may account for the frequent lengthening of the e by poets in rēduco, rēlatum.

Derived terms edit

Latin terms prefixed with re-

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. ^ R. B. Burnaby (1905) Elegiac Selections from Ovid, page 98

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

Neapolitan terms prefixed with re-

Norman edit

Alternative forms edit

Etymology edit

From Old French re-, from Latin re-.

Prefix edit

re-

  1. re-

Derived terms edit

Norman terms prefixed with re-

Norwegian Bokmål edit

Etymology edit

From Latin re-.

Prefix edit

re-

  1. re-

References edit

Norwegian Bokmål terms prefixed with re-

Norwegian Nynorsk edit

Etymology edit

From Latin re-.

Prefix edit

re-

  1. re-

References edit

Norwegian Nynorsk terms prefixed with re-

Occitan edit

Etymology edit

From Latin re-.

Prefix edit

re-

  1. re-

Derived terms edit

Occitan terms prefixed with re-

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

Polish terms prefixed with re-

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

Portuguese terms prefixed with re-

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-

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

Swedish terms prefixed with re-

Anagrams edit

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