Resowing

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. The action of planting seeds anew in an area that had been sown previously to encourage new growth
2. The process of placing seeds back into soil that was previously seeded to promote fresh plant development
3. Reapplying seeds to a field or garden area to revive or improve the growth of crops or plants

Etymology: "Resowing" is the present participle of "resow", formed simply by adding the prefix "re-" (meaning "again") to "sow". The base verb goes back to Old English "sāwan", which sits in a long Germanic line descended from the ancient Indo-European root for scattering seed, and the verb has been planting seed in English for well over a thousand years. The prefix is the part of the story worth noticing. "Re-" came into English through Old French from Latin "re-", and English speakers have attached it freely to ordinary verbs ever since, so "resow" is a transparent, unremarkable coinage: to sow again. The compound adds no new meaning beyond repetition, which is why it appears mainly in agricultural and gardening contexts where a field must be replanted after a failed crop or washed-out seed.

Synonyms: replanting