Regrown

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. Having developed or grown anew after being cut off, lost, or damaged
2. Having experienced new growth to replace what was previously removed or destroyed
3. Describing something that has regenerated or been restored to its former size or condition by natural growth

Etymology: "Regrown" is a plain compound: the prefix "re-" ("again") attached to "grown," the past participle of "grow." Its meaning follows directly from those two parts, so the word describes something that has grown back again after being cut, lost, or damaged. The prefix has a longer ancestry than the verb it attaches to. It traces back to a Proto-Italic form and then to Latin "re-," which carried the sense of backward or repeated action. Medieval French inherited it, and it reached English through Middle English, where it became one of the most productive prefixes in the language for building new words from existing ones. Because "grow" is an ancient Germanic verb and "re-" is a Latin prefix, "regrown" is a hybrid, pairing a native English base with a borrowed prefix. English speakers have long combined the two freely, so the same pattern produces words like "rebuild," "reread," and "renew."

Synonyms: reproduced, replenished, renewed, restored, reestablished

Antonyms: destroyed, damaged, diminished, reduced, depleted