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reprint

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Pronunciation

  • /ˈɹiːpɹɪnt/, /ɹiːˈpɹɪnt/[1]

Etymology

It is formed from English re- + print.[2][3][4][5][6] Print goes back through Middle English to Old French preinte (“impression”), from preindre (“to press”), from Latin premō (“to press”).[4] The noun comes from the verb.[2][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

To print a work again, in a new impression: 1551, in a document quoted in the introduction to an 1847 edition of Nicholas Udall's Ralph Roister Doister.[2][3] Etymonline dates the verb to the 1550s.[4]

Semantic evolution

Soon after the first sense, reprint was also used of printing a work again with revisions (about 1570),[2] and since 1616 intransitively, of a work being reprinted.[2] A figurative sense, to stamp or imprint something again, ran from 1605 to 1683;[2] Johnson (1755) gave "to renew the impression of any thing" first, quoting South on reprinting God's image upon the soul, and "to print a new edition" second.[7] The noun, a new impression of a printed work, is recorded from 1611, in Florio's dictionary,[2][3][4] and in typography from 1824 for printed matter used as copy to be set again.[2][4] Later senses of the noun include an article issued separately after appearing in a periodical, an offprint.[3][8]

Timeline

  • 1551 – verb, to print again.[2][3]
  • c. 1570 – to print again with revisions.[2]
  • 1605 – to imprint or stamp again (obsolete by 1683).[2]
  • 1611 – noun, a new impression of a work.[2][3]
  • 1616 – intransitive, of a work, to be reprinted.[2]
  • 1824 – printed matter used as copy for setting again.[2][4]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To print a work or text again, especially without changes: The publisher reprinted the cookbook after it sold out.[3][8][2]
  2. Of a work, to be printed again.[2]
  3. (obsolete, 1605–1683) To stamp or imprint again; to renew an impression.[2][7]

Noun

  1. A new printing of a work already published, with the same text.[3][8][2]
  2. An article issued separately after first appearing in a periodical or collection; an offprint.[3][8]
  3. Printed matter used as copy to be set and printed again.[3][2]

Word family

  • reprinter

References

  1. ^ 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 s Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  4. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  5. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  6. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  7. ^ a b Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
  8. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins