recreant

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈɹɛkɹɪənt/ (UK); /ˈɹɛkɹiənt/ (US)^[1]

Etymology

It comes from Middle English recreaunt,^[2][3] from Old French recreant (“yielding, defeated”),^{[4][2][3][5][6]} the present participle of recroire “to yield in a trial by combat; to give up one's allegiance”,^{[4][2][3][5][6]} from Medieval Latin recredere (“to yield, resign oneself”),^[4][5] from Latin re- (“again, back”) + credo (“to believe, entrust”).^{[4][2][3][5][6]} Etymonline suggests the notion was “to take back one's pledge”.^[3] It is related to creed and credo.^[5][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Confessing oneself defeated, surrendering in combat (probably before 1300; about 1300 in Etymonline).^[2][3][7]

Semantic evolution

In medieval trial by combat recreant was the hateful word by which a loser admitted defeat.^[3] From this the adjective came to mean cowardly (late 14th century),^[2][3][7] and from 1643 unfaithful to one's duty or allegiance.^[3][7] The noun meant a coward from about 1400,^[2][7][3] and a traitor or apostate from the 1560s.^[2][3]

Timeline

• before 1300 – defeated, yielding.^[2]
• about 1390 – cowardly.^[2][3]
• about 1400 – noun, a coward.^[2][7]
• 1560s – noun, a traitor or apostate.^[2][3]
• 1643 – unfaithful to duty.^[7][3]

Modern meaning

Adjective

1. Unfaithful or disloyal to a belief, duty or cause.
2. Craven or cowardly.

Noun

1. A faithless or disloyal person; a traitor or apostate.
2. A coward.

Word family

• recreance
• recreantly
• unrecreant

Related words

• creed
• credo
• credit
• miscreant

Usage notes

Random House lists dastardly, pusillanimous, faint-hearted and yellow as synonyms of the adjective in its sense of cowardly, and faithless and apostate in its sense of disloyal; its antonyms are brave and loyal.^[6]

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Harper, Douglas, Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
5. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b c d Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1999), 2nd ed., New York: Random House
7. ^ a b c d e f Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press