Replant

Part of speech: verb

Pronunciation: /ɹiːˈplænt/

Definitions

1. To put a previously uprooted plant back into the soil to ensure its continued growth and survival
2. To return a plant to the earth after it has been taken out in order to enable its growth or production
3. To set a plant that has been dug up back into soil to allow it to grow again

Etymology: "Replant" is about as plain as English compounds get: the prefix "re-", meaning "again" or "back", attached to "plant." The verb "plant" itself has a longer road behind it. It came into Old English from Latin "planta," a shoot or cutting, which was borrowed into Germanic speech early enough that the Old English form "plante" was already in use before the Norman Conquest. The prefix took a more roundabout route: "re-" descends from Latin, reached English through Old French, and by the Middle English period was attaching freely to existing verbs. The combination is simple. To replant is literally to plant again, so the word needs no special history of its own; its meaning follows directly from its two parts, with the sense narrowed to returning a plant that was previously lifted from the ground.

Synonyms: transplant, reposition, relocate

Antonyms: uproot, remove