Renewing

How to spell renewing

8 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce renewing

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does renewing mean?

1. verbExtending the validity of something, or restoring it to a fresh condition.

Renewing in a sentence

• She spent the morning renewing her passport before the trip.

• The gym sent a reminder about renewing the annual membership.

Where does renewing come from?

Language of origin: French

This word is the present participle of the verb 'renew', which English assembled from the native prefix 're-', meaning 'again' or 'back', and the everyday adjective 'new'. It was modelled on the Old French verb 'renoveler' and ultimately on the Latin 'renovare', meaning 'to make new again', from 'novus', the Latin word for 'new'. The Latin 'novus' is itself a distant cousin of English 'new', since both descend from a shared ancient root, which is why the pairing feels so natural. English began using 'renew' in the 1300s, originally in the broad sense of restoring something to a fresh or sound condition. The spelling stays pleasingly regular here: 'renew' simply takes '-ing' with no doubled letters and no dropped 'e', because the base ends in a 'w'.

How the word is built

• re- (again)
• new (root: new)
• -ing (present participle suffix)