Reprogrammes

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. The activity of changing previously set codes to alter performance standards
2. Modifies the instructions or software in a machine or electronic system to change how it operates
3. Changes the coded commands within a device to update or redirect its functionality

Etymology: "Reprogrammes" is the third-person singular present form of "reprogramme", a verb meaning to change a computer's instructions. The verb is built from the prefix "re-", meaning again or anew, and "programme", so it describes writing a set of instructions over again so that a machine behaves differently. The base word has a older, more literal sense than its computing use. "Programme" came into English from French, ultimately from the Greek "programma", meaning a public notice or written announcement. Only later did the word come to mean a planned schedule of events, and then a sequence of instructions for a machine. Giving the word "re-" adds the idea of doing that writing a second time, which is why the verb fits the work of updating software or hardware that already has its instructions in place.

Synonyms: reset, reconfigure