Etymologically
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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /ˈriː.sənt/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English recent (“new, fresh”), borrowed from Latin recēns (“lately done or made; new, fresh, young”), accusative recentem,[2][3][4] also through récent.[5][6][7] Latin recēns is of uncertain origin,[3] perhaps from re- and Proto-Indo-European *ken- (“fresh, new, young”),[2][4] the source also of Greek καινός (kainós, “new”) and Sanskrit kanīna “young”.[2][6][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Of foods, “fresh, newly made”: the early 15th century,[2] probably before 1425.[3] The OED's first quotation, “lately done or made”, is from 1533.[8]

Semantic evolution

“Belonging to a time comparatively near the present” is from 1622[8] or the 1620s,[2] and “fresh, not yet decayed” from 1632.[8] “Not long past”, of a point of time, is from 1823.[8] In geology Recent, with a capital, is the present epoch, from 1830[8] or 1833.[8] Recentness is from the 1670s, while recency (1610s) was common in the 19th century, according to the OED.[2]

Timeline

  • before 1425 – fresh, newly made.[3]
  • 1533 – lately done.[8]
  • 1622 – near the present.[8]
  • 1632 – fresh.[8]
  • 1823 – not long past.[8]
  • 1830 – the Recent geological epoch.[8]

Modern meaning

Adjective

  1. Having happened or begun a short time ago.
  2. Belonging to a time not long past; modern.
  3. (geology) Of the Holocene epoch.

Word family

  • recency
  • recently
  • recentness

References

  1. ^ 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 Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  3. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  4. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (2000), 4th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
  5. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  6. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  7. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press