re-

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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]

  • IPA(key): /ɹiː/, /ɹɪ/, /ɹə/
  • Audio (US, 1)(file)
  • Audio (US, 2)(file)
  • Audio (US, 3)(file)

Prefix[edit]

re-

  1. again, anew
  2. a completive or intensification of the base; up, a-, out
  3. back, backward

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.

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]

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; 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]

Borrowed 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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