Resow

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. To plant seeds once more in a field or area where they have already been sown
2. The act of scattering seeds over land for a second time after the initial planting
3. Replanting seeds into soil that was previously seeded to encourage growth or replace failed crops

Etymology: Resow is about as plain as English word-building gets: the prefix "re-" meaning "again" attached to "sow," the ordinary verb for scattering seed. The only thing to notice is how much older the two halves are than the word itself. "Sow" traces back through Old English "sāwan" and Proto-Germanic "sēanąn" to a root shared with Latin "serere," meaning to sow, and the Latin prefix "re-" came into English by way of Old French, which is why the prefix looks like a Latin borrowing even though the verb underneath it is native. The word did not appear from nothing. English took "re-" as a productive prefix from French, where it had been used with Latin-derived verbs, and then attached it to a native English verb that had been used for millennia. Few compound verbs in English combine so old a native stem with a borrowed prefix so cleanly.