Reskilled

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. The process of developing new abilities to fulfill different professional roles
2. Gained competency in new areas to perform a different occupation
3. Learned fresh expertise to qualify for an alternative career path

Etymology: "Reskilled" is the past tense and past participle of "reskill," a verb built from the prefix "re-" ("again," or "anew") attached to "skill." The base word "skill" came into English from Old Norse "skil," meaning "distinction" or "discernment," and that older sense of making a distinction is still visible in the word's roots, which trace back through Proto-Germanic to a Proto-Indo-European root meaning "to cut" or "to separate." The prefix "re-" reached English through Old French, which had inherited it from Latin, where it carried the same sense of repetition or renewal. English has used "re-" freely for centuries, so "reskill" follows an ordinary pattern: to skill again is to learn a new set of abilities, usually for a different job. The compound is a plain, modern formation rather than a word with a dramatic history, and its meaning is transparent from its two parts.

Synonyms: retrained, upskilled