recombination

Etymology

It is formed from English re- + combination,^[1][2][3][4] after the verb recombine, recorded from 1619;^[1] Etymonline allows either a formation from the prefix and the noun or one made to go with the verb,^[2] and the Shorter Oxford takes it as the verb with the suffix -ation.^[5] Combination is from Old French combination, from Late Latin combīnātiō (“a joining two by two”), from combīnō (“to unite, yoke together”), formed from com- (“with, together”) and bīnī (“two by two”).^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The action of combining again, or the result of it: 1783, in a translation of Torbern Bergman's essay on the usefulness of chemistry.^[1] Etymonline dates the word to 1791,^[2] Dictionary.com to 1820–30 for the general sense,^[4] and the Shorter Oxford to the early 19th century.^[5]

Semantic evolution

The word began in chemistry as a general term for things combining anew.^[1][2] In 1890 physicists applied it to ions and electrons coming together to form neutral atoms,^[1][3] and astronomers later used the same sense for the formation of atoms from free particles in the early universe.^[1][6] In biology it has named, since 1903, the rearrangement of genetic material that gives offspring combinations of characters not found in either parent,^[1][7] since 1933 it has also named the meeting of electrons and holes in a semiconductor.^[1]

Timeline

• 1783 – the action of combining again, or its result.^[1]
• 1890 – in physics, the joining of ions and electrons into neutral atoms.^[1][3]
• 1903 – in genetics, the rearrangement of genetic material in offspring.^[1] Etymonline dates the genetic sense to 1923 at the latest, and Dictionary.com to 1900–05.^[2][4]
• 1933 – the coming together of electrons and holes in a semiconductor.^[1]

Meanings

Noun

1. In genetics, the forming in offspring of combinations of genes that neither parent had, as by crossing over or by the independent sorting of chromosomes.^[3][7][8]
2. In physics, the joining of free electrons with positive ions, or of electrons with holes in a semiconductor, to form neutral atoms.^[8][3][1]
3. The act of combining again, or the result of it.^[1][5]

Word family

• recombinational

Related words

• recombine
• combination
• combine
• recombinant

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b c Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
5. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
7. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
8. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins