To send or direct something along a different path or course than originally planned.
From 're-' (again) + 'route' (a way or path). 'Route' comes from Old French 'rote,' derived from Latin 'rupta' (broken path). The 're-' prefix transforms it into an action of changing direction.
The 're-' prefix is incredibly productive in English—it lets us turn any verb into its opposite action (route → reroute, do → redo, think → rethink)—and this flexibility is partly why English conquered the world: we could describe new situations without inventing whole new words.
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