Rendition

How to spell rendition

9 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce rendition

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does rendition mean?

1. nounA particular performance or interpretation of a piece of music, drama, or other work.
2. nounA translation or a particular version of a text into another form or language.
3. nounThe handing over of a person or place to another authority, especially the transfer of a suspect between jurisdictions.

Rendition in a sentence

• The pianist gave a tender rendition of the old jazz standard.

• The publisher commissioned a fresh rendition of the ancient poem in modern English.

• The lawyers challenged the secret rendition of the prisoner to a foreign country.

• Critics praised her haunting rendition of the lead role.

• His literal rendition of the contract lost the nuance of the original.

• The treaty governs the rendition of fugitives between the two states.

Where does rendition come from?

Language of origin: French

Rendition entered English in the early seventeenth century, borrowed from an old French word rendition meaning a surrender or handing over. The French term traces back to the Latin verb reddere, which literally meant 'to give back' or 'to return', formed from red- 'back' and dare 'to give'. Its earliest English use described the formal surrender of a fortress or town to an enemy, a sense still echoed today in the legal phrase 'extraordinary rendition'. Over time the meaning broadened through the related verb 'render', so that a rendition came to mean any act of giving back or giving forth, including a translation of a text or a performance of a piece of music. The same reddere root sits inside everyday words like 'render' and 'surrender', which is a useful reminder that the tricky middle is spelled with 'nd', not the softer sound the ear might expect.

How the word is built

• rend- (from Latin reddere: to give back, render)
• -ition (noun suffix forming the act or result)