Render

How to spell render

6 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce render

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does render mean?

1. verbTo cause something or someone to be in a particular state, or to give or provide something such as help or a service.
2. verbTo depict or represent something in a drawing, painting, or other artistic form.
3. verbTo process data so that a computer generates a finished image, page, or video.
4. verbTo melt down fat by heating it slowly so that the liquid separates from the solids.

Render in a sentence

• The blow could render him unconscious for several minutes.

• The architect asked her team to render the new facade in fine detail.

• The software took two hours to render the animation in full resolution.

• The recipe asks you to render the bacon fat over a low heat.

• The volunteers were happy to render assistance to the flood victims.

• The artist managed to render the old harbour exactly as it looked at dawn.

Where does render come from?

Language of origin: French

Render comes from the Old French verb rendre, meaning 'to give back' or 'to deliver', which developed from a Vulgar Latin form rendere. That in turn was an altered version of the Latin reddere, 'to give back' or 'to return', built from the prefix re- ('back') and dare ('to give'). English borrowed the word in the 1300s, at first for the idea of handing something over or giving an account, and the meaning then branched out in many directions: to cause something to become a certain way, to depict or represent in art, to translate from one language into another, and even to melt down fat. The d that survives in the spelling reflects the Latin dare buried inside the word, even though it is barely heard between the n and the soft -er ending, which is exactly where careless spellers can stumble. The same Latin dare also gives us 'date', 'donate', and 'tradition'.

How the word is built

• rend- (from Latin reddere: to give back)
• -er (verb ending via Old French rendre)