Relighting

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. The act of igniting something that has gone out or been extinguished to cause it to burn once more
2. Starting a flame again after it has stopped burning, often to restore light or heat
3. Rekindling fire or light on something that was previously burning but is no longer alight

Etymology: "Relighting" is simply "relight" with its verb ending added, and "relight" is a plain compound: the prefix "re-", meaning again, attached to "light". The root "light" runs back through Old English "līehtan" (to make light, to kindle), itself from a Proto-Germanic verb built on a root for brightness, and it reached the modern verb "light" through Middle English "lighten." Its sense of "to set something burning" is the older one, and the verb "light" in the sense of illumination grew out of the same stem. The "re-" prefix comes from Latin "re-", which entered English through Old French "re-" and is used productively to mean repetition or restoration. English has freely attached it to native verbs like this one, so "relight" needed no special coinage; it just describes lighting something that had gone out.

Synonyms: reigniting, rekindling