Anew
adverbOnce more, or in a new and different way, as if starting over.
How to spell anew
4 letters · 2 syllables
How to pronounce anew
Say the part in capitals loudest.
What does anew mean?
- adverbOnce more, or in a new and different way, as if starting over.
Anew in a sentence
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After the divorce, he resolved to begin life anew.
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Following the flood, the family had to build anew on higher ground.
Where does anew come from?
Language of origin: Germanic
This word descends from Old English, where the phrase 'of niwe' meant literally 'of new', that is, 'starting from a fresh state'. Over time the small word 'of' weakened to the unstressed prefix 'a-', the same reducing process that produced 'aboard' from 'on board' and 'asleep' from 'on sleep'. By the medieval period the two parts had fused into a single adverb meaning 'once more' or 'in a new way'. The core element is simply the everyday adjective 'new', a thoroughly Germanic word with relatives across the family, including German 'neu' and Dutch 'nieuw'. The spelling trap for adults is that 'anew' is one solid word, easily mistaken for the two-word phrase 'a new', so it helps to remember that the 'a' here is the old fused prefix rather than the article.
How the word is built
- a- (reduced form of Old English 'of', meaning 'from' or 'in a fresh way')
- new
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