retral

Pronounced: REE-truhl (alt: REH-truhl), adj

Notes: I haven’t heard this word, but it’s helpful

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Yesterday’s word

The word rifacimento means “a re-making or complete reworking of a literary or musical piece”

First usage

This word came into English in the mid-1700s

Background / Comments

I enjoy the Agatha Christie mysteries, but I don’t care for the rifacimenti of them… I find they are best when they follow her plots. I understand that often, when making a film from a book, it is common to drop minor characters, but that’s not a re-make or a re-work. A re-make is when the guilty party is changed from one person to another. Our word comes to us from the Italian word rifare (to make over), which comes from ri- [re-] (again) combined with fare (to do).