rendition

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for October 15, 2024 is: rendition \ren-DISH-un\ noun A rendition, simply put, is the act or result of [rendering](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/rendering) something. That thing may be a performance or interpretation, a [depiction](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/depiction), or a [translation](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/translation). In US law, rendition refers to the surrender by a state of a fugitive to another state that is charging the fugitive with a crime. // Their signature meat loaf is a fine rendition of a classic recipe. // Theatergoers have been eager for an English rendition of the acclaimed French play. [See the entry >](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/rendition) Examples: "Clement Scott, Dorothy Stewart, and Maewa Kahihau wrote 'Now Is the Hour' in the early 20th century. Bing Crosby recorded one of the most famous renditions of the song in the late 1940s." — Matthew Strauss, Pitchfork, 7 Feb. 2024 Did you know? When a singer performs their rendition of someone else's song, or a chef adds a few twists to someone else’s recipe to concoct their own unique rendition, each is—in a sense—returning: returning to something old in order to create something new. Fittingly, the word rendition, which has been part of English since at least the early 1600s, traces back ultimately to the Latin verb reddere, meaning "to return." Reddere is also the ancestor of the English verb [render](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/render), whose many meanings include "to give a performance of" and "to give up or yield." Although render took a different path from reddere than did rendition, it's perhaps no surprise that the latter fundamentally means "an act or result of rendering something," and may be applied to everything from a performance, depiction, or translation of something, to a surrender (surrender being another reddere descendent), as in "fugitives awaiting rendition to a neighboring state."