Rendering

How to spell rendering

9 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce rendering

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does rendering mean?

1. nounA drawing or visual representation, especially a detailed depiction of a proposed building or design.
2. nounThe process by which a computer generates a final image or video from a model or set of instructions.
3. nounA particular translation or interpretive version of a text, speech, or piece of music.
4. nounA coat of plaster or cement applied to an exterior wall to protect and finish it.

Rendering in a sentence

• The architect presented a colour rendering of the new office block.

• The rendering of the animation took the workstation several hours.

• Her English rendering of the poem captured its original rhythm.

• The cracked rendering on the front wall needed repair before winter.

• The client approved the digital rendering before construction began.

• A faster graphics card speeds up the rendering of complex scenes.

Where does rendering come from?

Language of origin: French

This word grows out of the verb 'render', which English took from Old French 'rendre', meaning 'to give back' or 'to hand over'. That French verb came in turn from the Latin 'reddere', built from 're-' (back) and 'dare' (to give), so the literal idea was 'to give back'. Over the centuries 'render' branched into many senses, including to deliver up, to translate, to perform, to coat a surface, and to melt down, and 'rendering' simply names the action or result of doing any of those things. The d that sits before the - er, oddly, was not in the Latin 'reddere' at all: it crept in through the French and Latin family that also gave us 'surrender' and 'rent', and that intrusive d is exactly the letter writers should keep an eye on. The word arrived in English in the late Middle Ages and has quietly accumulated technical meanings ever since, from architectural drawings to computer graphics to the plastering of walls.

How the word is built

• render (from Old French rendre: to give back)
• -ing (noun/gerund suffix)