renovate

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin renovō (“to renew, restore”), through its past participle renovātus,^{[2][3][4][5][6][7]} from re- (“again”) and novō (“to make new”), from novus (“new”),^[6][3][4][8] from Proto-Indo-European *newo- (“new”), the source of new.^[6] Barnhart takes the verb as more likely a back-formation from the Middle English participial adjective renovate (“renewed”) than from renovation;^[4] Etymonline takes it as a back-formation from renovation or as directly from the Latin participle.^[9] Middle English had earlier verbs renovelen (“to renew, repair, rebuild”), early 14th century, from Old French renoveler, and renoven, early 15th century, from renover.^[9] The OED compares Romance verbs such as Spanish renovar and Italian rinnovare.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The participial adjective, renewed or revived, is recorded from about 1440, in a Middle English translation of Palladius on husbandry, of vines revived by pruning; it lasted until 1873.^[2][10] The verb, to renew or resume an action or a relationship, is first recorded in 1535, in a letter of Thomas Cromwell; this sense was obsolete by 1656.^[2][4] Merriam-Webster Unabridged also dates its first sense, to revive or regenerate, to 1535.^[3]

Semantic evolution

From 1546 the verb was used in religious writing for spiritual rebirth, a sense the Latin verb had in the Vulgate.^[2] The material sense, to restore something to good condition by repairing or replacing parts, is recorded from before 1552, in John Leland's Itinerary,^[2][4] and it is the main sense today, especially of buildings.^[11][3][2] Etymonline gives this sense for the 1520s.^[9] From 1614 the verb also meant to refresh or reinvigorate,^[2] and intransitively, from 1660 to 1812, to revive or recover.^[2] Johnson (1755) defined it as to renew, or restore to the first state, quoting Thomson's Winter: "All nature feels the renovating force".^[12] In gardening and farming it is also used of pruning old shrubs or trees so that new growth replaces the old wood, and of reviving old lawns or pastures by fertilizing or cultivating them.^[3]

Timeline

• c. 1440 – adjective, renewed, revived (obsolete after 1873).^[2][10]
• 1535 – verb, to renew or resume (obsolete by 1656).^[2][4]
• 1546 – to regenerate spiritually.^[2]
• before 1552 – to restore by repairing or replacing parts.^[2][4]
• 1614 – to refresh, reinvigorate.^[2]
• 1660 – intransitive, to revive (obsolete by 1812).^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. To restore something, especially a building, to good condition by repairing, cleaning or replacing parts: They renovated the old farmhouse.^[11][3][2]
2. To revive or refresh; to give new energy to.^[11][3][2]
3. To regenerate spiritually.^[3][2]
4. To prune old shrubs or trees so that new growth replaces the old wood.^[3]

Word family

• renovation
• renovator
• renovative
• renovatable
• renovatingly
• unrenovated
• reno

Related words

• renew
• novel

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b c d e f g Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
5. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
6. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
7. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
10. ^ a b Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
11. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
12. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.