Research: 're-' + 'search'

[Tamara]

Hi

Just quick thought. (Sometimes I stumble over something 'quite usual' and get puzzled ).

In my understanding, 're-' is the prefix that expresses one of the two ideas:
- repetition ( ) (as in redo, reload and re-count)
- modification, with an intention to produce better result (as in redesign and redistribute)

The word research is obviously created by re + search , and search isn’t too 'loaded' word and has rather 'a single' meaning.
(Or maybe I just don’t know something important?)

scientific re?search
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[Yankee]

Hi Tamara

[Tamara]

Hi Amy

[Alan]

Hi Tamara,

I would suggest it means that the 're' now forms part of the whole word, is solid with it, and is no longer considered to be a separate prefix as in:

refute/return/refund/repeat and so on and so on. Others could be :en/em/de -enable/encourage/enhance empower/employ/emit/degenerate/degrade/decide ....

Alan
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English as a Second Language
You can read my ESL story Here comes 2004...

[Tamara]

Thanks, Alan. Clear.

Just one (the last ) question: does it (what you and Amy said) also relates to 're-' written with hyphen?

There are lots of such words, re-arrest, re-allocate, etc., you know.
Moreover, according to my dictionary, recount and re-count (for examples) are two different words, with different meanings.
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[Alan]

Hi,

I would say that using the hyphen with 're' indicates that the word thus created isn't in a so-called solid state and we want to keep the 'repetitive' element of 're' alive. The case in point is the word you mention- recount / re-count. The first meaning 'tell a story/give a narrative' where the word is looked on as a whole and the second meaning 'count again' where the two parts are need to be 'separated'

Alan

Alan
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English as a Foreign Language
You can read my EFL story Reflections

[Yankee]

[Tamara]

So, Alan, if I understand you correcly, re- (hyphened) isn't (yet ) 'adnate' prefix (dead joint? figuratevely:)) and still keeps its initial role.

OK.
Thanks.
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It’s impossible to learn swimming without entering the water…

[Tamara]

Amy, I understand your point.
Thank you for your examples.

P.S.
Jut a quick glance at the article you gave (I'll re-read it a bit later, more attentively.)

[Crstarlette]

An intensive prefix is not a prefix that native speakers no longer recognize as such. It means exactly what it sounds like. It means it intensifies or strengthens the meaning, similar to adding 'very' or 'way' before an adjective. Another example is inflammable.

[Cerberus™]

There is a difference between Latin and English prefixes, even when they look identical. Re- in research is a Latin prefix, that is, it was already added in Latin long before the English borrowed the word. In- in inflammable is most probably also a Latin prefix.