recall

Pronunciation

• IPA: UK /rɪˈkɔːl/, /rəˈkɔːl/, US /rɪˈkɔːl/, /ˈriː.kɔːl/^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from re- and call,^[2][3][4] sometimes as a loan translation of rappeler (see repeal) or of revocāre (“to call back”) (see revoke).^[3][2][5] The noun, from 1611, is from the verb.^[3][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

To bring back by calling: 1582, in Barnhart and the OED, and the 1580s in Etymonline.^[3][6][2] MWU dates its sense “to call back from a place” to 1565.^[7]

Semantic evolution

To revoke or take back is also from the 1580s.^[2] To summon a person back is from 1591.^[6] To bring back to mind is from the 1610s in Etymonline,^[2] while Barnhart dates the sense “remember” to Locke's Essay Concerning Human Understanding (1690).^[2][3] The noun “recalling to the mind” is from 1651, and in psychology the ability to remember from 1887.^[6][3] In American politics a recall is the removal of an elected official by petition and vote, from 1902.^[6][3] A manufacturer's request to return faulty products is a later sense.^[8]

Timeline

• 1582 – to bring back by calling.^[6][3]
• 1580s – to revoke.^[2]
• 1611 – the noun.^[6]
• 1690 – to remember.^[3]
• 1902 – removal of an official (US).^[6]

Modern meaning

Verb

1. To remember something.
2. To order someone to come back: recall an ambassador.
3. To ask buyers to return a faulty product.
4. To make someone think of something; to remind.
5. To cancel or take back; to revoke.

Noun

1. The ability to remember things: total recall.
2. An order to return, especially of a faulty product.
3. (US) The removal of an elected official by a vote of the people.

Word family

• recallable
• recallability
• recaller
• unrecalled
• total recall

Related words

• revoke
• repeal

Usage notes

As a noun it is often stressed on the first syllable, /ˈriː.kɔːl/, the usual American form.^[1]

References

1. ^ a b Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c d e f g h Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
8. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press