respell

C2+ Topic:Actions & Processes

US /riˈspɛl/ UK /riːˈspɛl/ See IPA manual

Meanings

1

verb
to spell again, especially using a phonetic system to indicate pronunciation

The dictionary respells difficult words to show how they sound.

Verb forms

Verb forms are not available for this word yet.

Thesaurus

Word family

Derived forms respelling

Related forms spell spellingmisspell

Etymology

From re- ('again') + spell, the verb spell deriving from Old French espeller ('to read out letter by letter'), of Germanic origin, related to Old English spellian ('to talk, tell').

re- Latin espeller Old French

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Actions & Processes

External links

# respell

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2+
**Part of speech:** verb
**IPA (US):** /riˈspɛl/
**IPA (UK):** /riːˈspɛl/

## Meanings
1. to spell again, especially using a phonetic system to indicate pronunciation

## Examples
- The dictionary respells difficult words to show how they sound.

## Derived Forms
- respelling

## Related Forms
- spell
- spelling
- misspell

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: re-
- Root: espeller

## Etymology
From re- ('again') + spell, the verb spell deriving from Old French espeller ('to read out letter by letter'), of Germanic origin, related to Old English spellian ('to talk, tell').

## AI Etymology
Respell comes from re- ('again') + spell, the verb spell deriving from Old French espeller ('to read out letter by letter'), of Germanic origin, related to Old English spellian ('to talk, tell'). The historical chain includes Latin re- and Old French espeller. Older glosses in the chain include "again", "to read out letter by letter", and "to talk, tell", which help explain the semantic range of the modern word. Morphologically, respell is best read as compound and borrowing, yielding an English verb shaped by both form history and later usage. In current English it functions as a verb, with the sense "to spell again, especially using a phonetic system to indicate pronunciation". English derivatives include respelling; related forms include spell, spelling, and misspell. The result is an English verb whose etymology preserves the older forms while supporting the word's specialized modern meaning.

## Topics
- Actions & Processes

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