Return

How to spell return

6 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce return

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does return mean?

1. verbTo come or go back to a previous place, state, or owner, or to give something back.
2. nounThe act of coming back, or something given back; also a profit yielded by an investment.

Return in a sentence

• verb

  She planned to return to the office after lunch.

• noun

  The fund promised a steady return on her savings.

• verb

  Please return the borrowed tools to the shed.

• noun

  The manager scheduled his return for early Monday.

Where does return come from?

Language of origin: French

The word arrived in English in the 1300s from the Old French retorner, which combined re-, meaning 'back', with torner, meaning 'to turn'. That French verb traces to the Latin tornare, 'to turn on a lathe', which itself was built on tornus, the name for a lathe or turning tool, a word the Romans had borrowed from the Greek tornos, a compass-like instrument for drawing circles. The literal idea, then, was of turning oneself or something back around to a starting point. Over the centuries the meaning broadened from physical turning back to giving something back, coming back, and even the profit that comes back from an investment. The plain spelling rarely traps adults, since the familiar everyday word 'turn' sits visibly inside it.

How the word is built

• re- (back)
• turn (to turn, from Latin tornare)