Difference between Research and Re-search? Are they same word? Let us know here.

Research

Search

We have many times come across people saying, Research means, redoing something which was done previously but forgotten now. Everything was done earlier by nature, ancestors. But somehow they were destroyed and non existent today. Since it is redoing the already existing things in past, we are doing research not search. They mean Research = Re + Search. Is it correct?

Let us find out from the origin of the word [1,2]

The word research has come from french word "recerche".
The word "recerche" has come from "re" +  "cerche"
We all know that
"re-" means -->again
"cerche" means -->to search

So at this point research appears "search again and again" or "search of something which already existed"

[3]

But there is a catch.
Please note the bracketed words after re- (expressing intensive force). i.e. Re- is here Intensive prefix.

What is an intensive prefix [4]?
Some prefixes highly emphasize roots of words to which they are attached, and are known as intensive prefixes.The prefix re-, which can mean “back” or “again,” can also mean “thoroughly” when it acts as an intensive.

Pl look into the following words
Relate vs Re-late (connection vs again and again late)
Resolve vs Re-solve (Finding a final solution vs again and again solving)

So the meaning is fully changed when a prefix is used as Intensive prefix.

Research means "a systematic investigation /careful study of a subject, especially in order to discover new facts or information about it/ through investigation/search".

Re-search means "search again".

Research does not mean search again but Re-search does.

There is a popular saying, since everything was there earlier and we are just finding it again, it is called research, this logic is not correct. They are confused between the terms Re-search and Research.

The problem is in many of the older borrowings from French and Latin the precise sense of re- is lost in secondary senses or weakened beyond recognition.

Hope I could clear the difference between two important terms.

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Reference:

[1] https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/definition/english/re_3?q=re-
[2] https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/definition/english/research_1?q=research

[3] Stevenson, A., & Waite, M. (Eds.). (2011). Concise oxford english dictionary: Luxury edition. Oxford University Press., p 1222

[4] https://membean.com/wrotds/re-thoroughly

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