Redistribution

How to spell redistribution

14 letters · 5 syllables

How to pronounce redistribution

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does redistribution mean?

1. nounThe act of sharing out or allocating something again, often wealth, resources, or items, in a different way.

Redistribution in a sentence

• The new policy aims at a fairer redistribution of income across the country.

• The warehouse manager planned the redistribution of stock between the regional branches.

Where does redistribution come from?

Language of origin: Latin

The word traces back to the Latin verb distribuere, meaning 'to divide up and deal out', which was formed from dis-, meaning 'apart', and tribuere, meaning 'to allot or assign'. That root tribuere is itself connected to tribus, the word for a 'tribe' or division of the Roman people, since allotments were originally made among these divisions; the same family gives us 'tribute' and 'contribute'. The noun 'distribution' arrived in English through Old French in the late 1300s, carrying the sense of sharing things out among recipients. The prefix re-, meaning 'again', was added much later to describe dividing something out a second time or in a new way. The modern political and economic sense, the reallocation of wealth, income, or resources, became common from the nineteenth century onward. The spelling stays predictable because each piece keeps its own form, so the only real risk is losing track of the long string of unstressed vowels in the middle.

How the word is built

• re- (again)
• dis- (apart)
• tribut (from Latin tribuere: to allot, assign)
• -ion (noun suffix)