Resume

How to spell resume

6 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce resume

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does resume mean?

1. verbTo begin again or continue after an interruption or pause.
2. nounA short written summary of a person's work history and qualifications, submitted when applying for a job.

Resume in a sentence

• verb

  The talks will resume after the lunch break.

• noun

  He tailored his resume to highlight his management experience.

• verb

  Once the power returned, the machines could resume normal operation.

• noun

  The recruiter scanned each resume for relevant skills.

Where does resume come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word descends from the Latin sumere, meaning 'to take up' or 'to take', which itself combined sub 'up from under' with emere 'to take or buy'. Adding the prefix re- 'again' produced resumere, literally 'to take up again', the idea of picking something back up after a pause. English borrowed it in the late 1300s through Old French resumer, keeping the sense of starting an interrupted action once more. The noun meaning 'a summary' or 'a curriculum vitae' arrived much later from French resume, the past participle of resumer, where it meant 'summed up'; in that French source the word carries acute accents (resume), which is why some writers still add them even when the bare spelling resume is the form given here. The same sumere root surfaces in everyday relatives such as assume, consume, and presume, all built on the notion of taking something in some direction.

How the word is built

• re- (again, back)
• sume (from Latin sumere: to take)