Rebuilding

How to spell rebuilding

10 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce rebuilding

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does rebuilding mean?

1. verbConstructing something again after it has been damaged, demolished, or worn out.
2. nounThe process or work of constructing or restoring something again.

Rebuilding in a sentence

• verb

  The council is rebuilding the bridge that collapsed in the storm.

• noun

  The rebuilding of the stadium will take three full seasons.

• verb

  After the fire, the family spent two years rebuilding their home.

• noun

  Funding for the rebuilding of the town centre was approved last week.

Where does rebuilding come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

The core of this word is the Old English verb byldan, meaning 'to construct a dwelling', which itself grew from bold, an Old English noun for a house or fixed habitation. Over the medieval period the spelling and vowel drifted, and the modern form 'build' settled with the silent 'u' that still trips writers today, a quirk inherited from earlier scribal habits rather than from any sound. The prefix 're- comes from Latin and simply means 'again' or 'back', and it was freely attached to native English verbs from the Middle Ages onward to express repetition. So 'rebuilding' literally means the act of building once more, and the -ing ending marks it either as the ongoing action or as a noun naming that process. The spelling trap is the unsounded 'u' tucked between the 'b' and the 'i', a leftover from English's long and untidy orthographic history.

How the word is built

• re- (again)
• build (root, from Old English byldan: to construct)
• -ing (present participle / gerund suffix)