Redo

How to spell redo

4 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce redo

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does redo mean?

1. verbTo do something again, typically to correct or improve it.
2. nounA second attempt at something, or the act of doing it again.

Redo in a sentence

• verb

  The editor asked her to redo the opening paragraph for clarity.

• noun

  The messy first draft clearly needed a complete redo.

• verb

  If the figures are wrong, we will have to redo the entire spreadsheet.

• noun

  The failed product launch turned into an expensive redo.

Where does redo come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

This is a transparent compound built inside English from the prefix re-, meaning 'again' or 'back', attached to the very old verb 'do'. The prefix re- arrived in English from Latin, where it carried the sense of repetition or reversal, and it became a hugely productive way to coin new words. The base verb 'do', by contrast, is native and ancient: it descends from Old English 'don', meaning 'to perform, make, or act', and has Germanic relatives such as the Dutch 'doen' and the German 'tun'. The combination 'redo' simply means to do something a second time, and it is a relatively modern formation that became common in the twentieth century. Because both parts stay intact in the spelling, the only real trap is remembering that it is written as one solid word with a single 'd', not 're-do' or 'redoo'.

How the word is built

• re- (again, back)
• do (perform, make; from Old English don)