Regrout

[pat]

I'd like to suggest regrout and its inflections for inclusion in the word list. I know there are many 're-' words that aren't allowed, probably because they're not common enough to even be considered as rare words, but many of us must have had to regrout our bathrooms at some point.

[rogue_mother]

I agree. I tried this, since regrouting is a known activity around here. Recaulking, too.

[Morbius]

Yes, I tried it too, and was surprised it wasn't accepted.

[Barbaram]

I tried it as well - having recently undertaken same!

[mkenuk]

I'm never surprised when any word starting with 're-' is rejected.

I am however occasionally surprised at some of the 're-' words which are accepted -'reship' for example is common, but 'remail' is rare; in a recent game 'repriced' was common, but 'reprice' was rare.

 I saw 'regrout' but didn't even bother trying it.

MK

[mkenuk]

Interestingly, 'repoint', a pastime for householders similar to 'regrout', appeared in yesterday's epic 10-letter game 'propensity' .

It was, needless to say, 'uncommon'.

MK

[Tom44]

There are a lot of things you have to "redo" to your house over the years: repoint brickwork, regrout tiles, reweed the garden, etc.  I am probably in a small minority but I feel if a re[word] is something that actually occurs, that word should be allowed in Chi.

[Alan W]

Regrout is listed in Wiktionary and in the OED, though not, as far as I can tell, in any of the smaller Oxford dictionaries.

The word is not a new coinage: the earliest OED citation is from 1867, from the Annual Report of the Ohio Board of Public Works: "These and other [canal] locks have also been re-grouted and repaired in other respects." Most of the other examples also hyphenate the word, but the dictionary itself lists it as a single, unhyphenated, word.

I found an example of the word's use from a local (for me) firm, Melbourne Tile Restoration, who have a page about Tile Regrouting on their website. They explain:

Regrouting is a task where the grout lines in between the tiles, floor and wall are removed and then new ones grouted.

So the word is real and ought to be allowed, along with regrouted and regrouting, although I doubt that the latter two will ever crop up in any puzzles.

[pat]

Thanks, Alan.