Resodding

Part of speech: noun, verb

Definitions

1. The action of applying new grass layers to an area in need of repair
2. The process of covering a surface with fresh, cut strips of grass to restore or enhance the ground
3. Replacing old or damaged turf by placing new grass sections over the soil

Etymology: Resodding is formed from the verb "resod," built from the prefix "re-" (again) and "sod," a piece of turf. "Sod" comes from Middle English "sode," borrowed from Middle Low German or a related Low German dialect word "sode," and it has meant a block of earth bound together by grass roots since at least the 1300s. The surprise is how literal the word still is: a sod is a physical slab of living turf, cut from one place and laid in another, so to resod a lawn is to lay down new slabs of it, not to sow seed. The verb "to sod" meaning to cover with turf appeared in English by the 1500s, and "resod" followed the same pattern, so "resodding" is a plain compound of the prefix, the root, and the verbal "-ing" ending. Nothing in its history is hidden; the word simply describes what is done with a sod.