Etymologically
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recovery

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 15 October 2026 at 23:08. This address is a permanent link to this version.
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Pronunciation

  • IPA: UK /rɪˈkʌv.ər.i/, US /rɪˈkʌv.ɚ.i/[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Anglo-Norman recoverie (about 1300), Old French recovree “remedy, cure, recovery”,[2][3][4] from the past participle stem of recovrer “to get back”,[2][3] the source of recover.[2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

A return to health after illness, injury or misfortune: the mid-14th century in Etymonline.[2] The OED's first sense, a possibility or means of recovery, a remedy, is from 1387–8,[5] and the New Oxford also gives “a means of restoration” as the first.[3]

Semantic evolution

Gaining possession of property by legal action is from the early 15th century.[2] Regaining something lost or taken is from the 1530s,[2] and recovering oneself after a blunder or mishap from the 1520s,[2] 1525 in the OED.[5] Restoration from a bad to a good condition is from the 1580s,[2] and return to health specifically from 1606 in the OED.[5] In rowing, returning to position for the next stroke is from 1856.[5] In Staffordshire a recovery was an old coal pit sunk lower to reach another seam.[6]

Timeline

  • mid-14th century – a return to health.[2]
  • 1387–8 – a remedy.[5]
  • early 15th century – recovery of property at law.[2]
  • 1520s – recovering oneself.[2]
  • 1530s – regaining what was lost.[2]
  • 1580s – restoration to a good condition.[2]
  • 1856 – in rowing.[5]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. A return to health or to a normal condition.
  2. The act or process of recovering, or the time it takes.
  3. The regaining of something lost: the recovery of stolen goods.
  4. The extraction of usable substances from waste or other unusable sources.

Word family

  • recovery room

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 g h i j k l m Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  3. ^ a b c d Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  5. ^ a b c d e f Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)