Regenerative

How to spell regenerative

12 letters · 5 syllables

How to pronounce regenerative

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does regenerative mean?

1. adjectiveTending to regrow, restore, or renew something, such as living tissue, energy, or a natural system.

Regenerative in a sentence

• The clinic offers regenerative therapy that helps damaged tissue repair itself.

• The farm switched to regenerative practices that rebuild the soil each season.

Where does regenerative come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word traces back to the Latin verb regenerare, meaning 'to bring forth again' or 'to create anew', formed from the prefix re- ('again') and generare ('to beget, produce, give birth to'). That verb in turn rests on the noun genus, meaning 'birth, race, or kind', the same root that gives English a whole family of relatives including 'generate', 'genus', 'genesis', and 'genuine'. The adjective form arrived through Latin and Old French during the late Middle Ages, at first carrying a strongly religious sense of spiritual rebirth or renewal. Over time it broadened into the scientific and medical senses we know today, describing tissue, energy, or systems that restore and renew themselves. The spelling is best remembered by seeing the pieces in order: re plus gener (the productive 'birth' root) plus the familiar -ative ending, so the e in the middle simply carries the gener root rather than doubling or dropping.

How the word is built

• re- (again)
• gener (from generare: to produce, beget)
• -at(e) (verb)
• -ive (adjective suffix)