Rename
verbTo give a new name to a person, place, file, or thing that already had one.
How to spell rename
6 letters · 2 syllables
How to pronounce rename
Say the part in capitals loudest.
What does rename mean?
- verbTo give a new name to a person, place, file, or thing that already had one.
Rename in a sentence
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The council voted to rename the old high street after a local hero.
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You can rename a file by right-clicking it and typing a new title.
Where does rename come from?
Language of origin: Germanic
This is a transparent compound built from the prefix re-, meaning 'again' or 'back', and the verb 'name'. The base word 'name' descends directly from Old English nama, a native Germanic word for the label by which a person or thing is known, with close cousins in Dutch naam and German Name. The re- element came into English from Latin through French and attaches freely to native verbs, which is exactly what happened here. The combined verb 'rename', meaning to give a new name to something already named, appears in English from around the 1500s. Because both parts are familiar everyday words, the spelling holds no surprises: it is simply 're' joined to 'name' with no doubled letters.
How the word is built
- re- (again)
- name (from Old English nama: a name)
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