What Does “Re” Mean in Italian?
Re in Italian means “king” (pronounced reh): il re is the king. Re is also the second note of the musical scale, D, and it looks like the English prefix “re-“, which Italian expresses with ri-. Here are the three uses side by side:
| Meaning | Italian | Example | English |
| King | il re | Il re vive nel castello. | The king lives in the castle. |
| Musical note D | re | Questa canzone è in re maggiore. | This song is in D major. |
| Prefix for “again” | ri- | Devo rifare il compito. | I have to do the homework again. |
“Re” as King: Il Re
Re is a masculine noun, and the feminine is la regina (queen). It is a shortened word, so it does not change in the plural: il re becomes i re. You will meet it in stories, history, chess and card games.
La regina parla con il re.
The queen is talking to the king.
I due re firmano la pace.
The two kings sign the peace treaty.
Scacco al re!
Check!
Ho preso il re di cuori.
I took the king of hearts.
Famous examples are Il Re Leone (The Lion King), il Re Sole (the Sun King, Louis XIV) and i Re Magi (the Three Wise Men, who arrive on the Epiphany, on 6 January).
“Re” as a Musical Note
In Italian, the notes of the scale are do, re, mi, fa, sol, la, si, and re corresponds to the note D. You say re maggiore for D major and re minore for D minor. For more musical words, see my list of Italian music terms.
“Re:” in Emails
The “Re:” you see in the subject line of an email comes from Latin and means “regarding”. Many Italian email programs show R: for risposta (reply) and I: for inoltro (forward). To say “regarding” in a sentence, use riguardo a or in merito a. If you write emails in Italian, my guide to writing an email in Italian will help.
English “Re-” and Italian “Ri-“
The rest of this lesson is about the prefix: what a prefix is and how Italian uses ri- to say “again”.
What is a Prefix?
In linguistics, a prefix is an affix – a syllable with meaning – that is added at the beginning of a word to modify its meaning. A suffix is an affix that is added at the end of the word. Prefixes and suffixes are primary ways to form altered words by changing the function of an existing word.
Prefixes can serve various functions, such as negation, repetition, intensification, or to form a new category of words, for instance turning a noun into a verb.
For example, a very common prefix in English is “un-“; if you add it to the word “happy” you form “unhappy”, indicating the opposite meaning.
Another common prefix is “re-“, which is typically added to verbs. In Italian, we have a very similar counterpart that is used in the same way: the prefix is ri-, added to verbs like fare (to do) to form rifare (to do again).
The Prefix “re-” in Italian
Ri-
Just like in English we use the prefix “re-” to indicate something that is being repeated, in Italian we use the prefix ri-. In linguistics it is said to be a reiterative prefix, where “reiterative” means repetition or reoccurrence.
It comes from Latin, as most of the Italian words, and it is a derivational prefix, which means it alters the meaning of the root verb and not its grammatical function.
Have a look at some examples below:
Richiama più tardi, sono occupata.
Call me back later; I am busy.
Vogliamo rivedere quel film, ci è piaciuto molto.
We want to watch that film again, we liked it.
Devo riascoltare il podcast di ieri perché mi sono addormentato.
I need to listen to yesterday’s podcast again because I fell asleep.
Other Meanings of the Prefix Ri- in Italian
The prefix ri- in Italian can also indicate or show a return to a previous state after doing the opposite of what the original verb means. For example, riguadagnare (to get back what has been lost), or rialzare (to pick up what has fallen), and ritrovare (to find what was lost), etc.
Let’s see some examples:
Voglio riguadagnare la sua fiducia.
I want to regain his trust.
Con il tuo aiuto ho ritrovato il coraggio di viaggiare da sola.
With your help I found once again the courage to travel alone.
Sometimes, Ri- can also add intensity to the action described, as in:
Riscaldare
Heat up
Ricercare
Research
Ripulire
Clean up
Verbs That Start With -ri
There is something you should be careful about: some verbs in Italian start with ri-, but they are not composed of any prefix. That is just the way the verb is. This means that if you remove the prefix, the verb makes no sense!
Let’s see some examples:
Ricavare
Obtain, acquire
Ritirare
Withdraw, retreat
Riprodurre
Reproduce
Other Common Italian Prefixes
Ri- is only one of many prefixes. If you are studying Italian prefixes in general, these are some of the most useful, and you can find more word-building tools in my guide to altered words:
| Prefix | Meaning | Example |
| in- / im- | Not | possibile → impossibile (impossible) |
| dis- / s- | The opposite, undoing | fare → disfare (to undo) fortunato → sfortunato (unlucky) |
| pre- | Before | storia → preistoria (prehistory) |
| anti- | Against | furto → antifurto (anti-theft) |
| stra- | Extreme, beyond | ordinario → straordinario (extraordinary) |
