The primary meaning of the prefix re-, which comes from Latin, is “again.” Re- combines chiefly with verbs, as in these examples: rearrange, rebuild, recall, remake, rerun, rewrite. The prefix has been used with this meaning extensively in English since the 1600s. Sometimes it is necessary to use a hyphen with re- to distinguish between pairs such as recollect (r´´-lkt´) and re-collect (r´´k-lkt´) or recreation (rk´´r´shn) and re-creation (r´´kr-´shn). A hyphen may also be used when re- precedes a word beginning with e, as in re-enact and re-enter.
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