re-

English

Etymology

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

• IPA^(key): /ɹiː/, /ɹɪ/, /ɹə/
  • IPA: /ɹiː/ ^help
  • IPA: /ɹɪ/ ^help
  • IPA: /ɹə/ ^help

Prefix

re-

1. again, anew

   renew, recommit, reheat

2. a completive or intensification of the base; up, a-, out

   reletter, relead, rebronze (examples from: )

3. back, backward

   reject, reply, resist

Usage notes

• 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

• (again): ana-, palin-
• (back): with-

Derived terms

Translations

See also

• again
• re
• repeat

References

• “re-”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.

Anagrams

• 'er, -'er, -er, E-R, E. R., E.R., ER, er, er.

Catalan

Etymology

From Latin re-.

Prefix

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

Further reading

• “re-” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
• “re-”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2024
• “re-” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “re-” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

Chuukese

Prefix

re-

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

Esperanto

Etymology

From Latin re-.

Prefix

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

French

Etymology

From Latin re-.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʁə/

• Audio

  (file)

Prefix

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

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

Derived terms

See also

• r-

German

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʁe/

• Audio

  (file)

Prefix

re-

1. re-

Derived terms

Hungarian

Etymology

From Latin re- (“again; back”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key):

Prefix

re-

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

Derived terms

Interlingua

Etymology

From Latin re-.

Prefix

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

Italian

Etymology

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

Prefix

re-

1. re-

   Synonym: ri-

Usage notes

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

Derived terms

References

Latin

Etymology

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

re-

1. back, backwards
2. un-, de-

   ‎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

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

Descendants

References

Middle French

Prefix

re-

1. re- (again; once more)

Neapolitan

Etymology

Inherited from Latin re-.

Prefix

re-

1. re-

Derived terms

Norman

Alternative forms

• èr-

Etymology

From Old French re-, from Latin re-.

Prefix

re-

1. re-

Derived terms

Norwegian Bokmål

Etymology

From Latin re-.

Prefix

re-

1. re-

References

• “re-” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology

From Latin re-.

Prefix

re-

1. re-

References

• “re-” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

Occitan

Etymology

From Latin re-.

Prefix

re-

1. re-

Derived terms

Old French

Prefix

re-

1. re- (again; once more)

Polish

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin re-.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /rɛ/

• Audio

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛ
• Syllabification: re
• Homophones: re, Re

Prefix

re-

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

Derived terms

Further reading

• re- in Polish dictionaries at PWN

Portuguese

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

Prefix

re-

1. re- (forms verbs indicating that the action is being done again)

   ‎re- + ‎fazer (“to do”) → ‎refazer (“to redo”)

Derived terms

Romanian

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /re/

Prefix

re-

1. re-

Spanish

Etymology 1

From Latin re-.

Prefix

re-

1. again

   ‎re- + ‎construir → ‎reconstruir

2. backwards

   ‎re- + ‎fluir → ‎refluir

3. opposition

   ‎re- + ‎pugnar → ‎repugnar

Etymology 2

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

Prefix

re-

1. forms superlatives from adjectives

   Synonyms: muy, -ísimo

   ‎re- + ‎bueno (“good”) → ‎rebueno (“great”)

   ‎re- + ‎chulo (“cute”) → ‎rechulo (“very cute”)

Derived terms

• rete-, requete-, recontra-
• re

Derived terms

• Spanish terms prefixed with re-

Further reading

• “re-”, in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014

Swedish

Prefix

re-

1. re-; doing something again

   Synonyms: åter-, om-

Derived terms

Anagrams

• -er, er, er-