Etymologically
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replay

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Pronunciation

  • /ɹiːˈpleɪ/, /ˈɹiːpleɪ/[1]

Etymology

It is formed from English re- (“again”) + play.[2][3][4][5] The noun comes from the verb.[3][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

To perform something again, to repeat a performance: before 1635, in the poems of Thomas Randolph.[3] Etymonline dates the verb "to play again" in any sense to the 1630s,[2] and Merriam-Webster to about 1635.[4]

Semantic evolution

In sport the verb meant playing a match, game or shot again because of an irregularity or a disputed result, from 1768;[3] Etymonline cites it from curling by 1862.[2] The noun followed in 1895, of a match played again, especially a cup tie that had ended in a draw.[3][4] Recording technology gave the verb its sense of playing back sound or film, from 1922 in the OED (Etymonline has it by 1912),[3][2] and the noun the sense of a playback from 1947.[3] From there it was a short step to action replay and instant replay in television sport,[5][6] and to a replay as any event that repeats an earlier one (1957).[3]

Timeline

  • a1635 – to perform again.[3]
  • 1768 – in sport, to play a match or shot again.[3]
  • 1895 – the noun, a replayed match.[3][4]
  • 1912 – to reproduce a recording (Etymonline); the OED's first example is from 1922.[2][3]
  • 1947 – the noun, a playback of a recording or film.[3]
  • 1957 – an event that repeats an earlier one.[3]

Modern meaning

Verb

  1. To play a match or game again, typically after a draw or a disputed result.
  2. To play a recording or film again; to play back.
  3. To go over an event again in one's mind: She kept replaying the argument on the drive home.
  4. To perform or play something again.

Noun

  1. A match played again, especially one that first ended in a draw.
  2. A showing again of part of a recording, especially of an incident in a sports broadcast, often in slow motion; an action replay.
  3. Something that closely repeats an earlier event.

Word family

  • instant replay
  • action replay

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  4. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  5. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  6. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins