Rehire

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. To employ someone once more after they have previously left or been dismissed
2. To give a job back to a person who was formerly employed
3. To hire a former employee again for work

Etymology: "Rehire" is a plain formation: the prefix "re-", meaning "again" or "back", attached to "hire". The prefix comes from Latin "re-", which English took in through Old French, so the word combines a Latin prefix with an Old French-derived base. "Hire" itself came into Middle English from Old French, and the English verb was then given the "re-" prefix to mean taking someone on again. The prefix is the older and more productive part of the story. Latin "re-" appears in countless English verbs such as "return", "repeat" and "rebuild", and in "rehire" it does the same job it does in all of them: it signals that the action is being repeated, usually after a previous period of the same relationship. The word is simply a transparent combination of the two parts, so its meaning follows directly from them.

Synonyms: employ again, retake

Antonyms: fire