Remodeling

How to spell remodeling

10 letters · 4 syllables

How to pronounce remodeling

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does remodeling mean?

1. verbChanging the structure, layout, or appearance of something, especially a building or room.

Remodeling in a sentence

• The contractor is remodeling the kitchen before the holidays.

• They are remodeling the entire ground floor next spring.

Where does remodeling come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word builds on 'model', which English borrowed in the late 1500s from the Italian 'modello', meaning a small pattern or scale figure used to plan a larger work. The Italian came from the Vulgar Latin 'modellus', a diminutive of the Latin 'modulus', which itself was a small form of 'modus', meaning 'measure' or 'manner'. By the 1600s 'model' had become a verb meaning to shape or fashion after a pattern, and the prefix 're-', from Latin meaning 'again' or 'back', produced 'remodel', to fashion anew. The form 'remodeling' is the American spelling, keeping a single 'l' because the stress does not fall on the final syllable; British and Canadian writing doubles it to 'remodelling'. That single-versus-double 'l' is the whole spelling trap, and it traces straight back to the modest Latin 'modulus' tucked inside the middle of the word.

How the word is built

• re- (again)
• model (pattern/shape, from Latin modulus 'small measure')
• -ing (verbal/gerund suffix)

British and American spelling

Remodeling is the American spelling. British English spells it remodelling.