Redeem

How to spell redeem

6 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce redeem

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does redeem mean?

1. verbTo exchange a voucher, coupon, token, or similar for goods, money, or a benefit.
2. verbTo make up for a fault or to recover something lost, such as a reputation or a situation.
3. verbTo pay off a debt or recover an item by clearing what is owed.

Redeem in a sentence

• Customers can redeem the coupon at any branch before the end of the month.

• A strong second half helped the team redeem a dismal start to the season.

• The family saved for years to redeem the mortgage on the house.

• She chose to redeem her loyalty points for a free flight.

• He worked hard to redeem his reputation after the failed project.

• He returned to the pawnshop to redeem the watch he had left as security.

Where does redeem come from?

Language of origin: Latin

Redeem comes from the Latin verb redimere, formed from red- meaning 'back' and emere meaning 'to buy' or 'to take', so the literal sense was 'to buy back'. In Roman use it described buying back property or freeing a captive by paying a ransom, and that idea of recovering something through payment carried straight into English. The word arrived in the early 1400s by way of Old French rediemer, and it quickly picked up a strong religious sense, since Christian writers spoke of Christ buying back, or redeeming, humankind. From there the meaning widened to cover restoring a tarnished reputation and, much later, the modern commercial sense of exchanging a coupon, voucher, or token for goods or cash. The same emere root, 'to buy', sits inside relatives such as 'exempt' and 'premium', and remembering 'buy back' helps fix the steady double-e spelling in the middle.

How the word is built

• re- (back)
• -deem (from Latin emere: to buy, to take)