recursive

Etymology

It is formed from English recurs(ion) + -ive, according to Merriam-Webster and Dictionary.com.^[2][3] The OED, Etymonline and the Oxford Dictionary of English take the first part directly from Latin recurs-, the past-participle stem of recurrō (“to run back”), the source of recur.^[4][5][6] The mathematical sense follows similar uses of German rekurrent (David Hilbert, 1904) and rekursiv (Kurt Gödel, 1931).^[4] The noun recursion is older, recorded from 1616, from Late Latin recursio (“return, recurrence”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Repeatedly or continually recurring: 1766, in R. Andrews's translation of Virgil's Georgics.^[4] Etymonline dates this sense "periodically recurring" to 1790,^[5] and the Oxford Dictionary of English to the late 18th century.^[6]

Semantic evolution

The general sense "recurring" was short-lived: the Shorter Oxford records it only in the late 18th century, and the OED calls it now rare.^[7][4] The word was revived in the 20th century as a technical term.^[6] In mathematics and logic it described, from 1916, a repeated procedure in which the result at each step is defined by the results of the steps before;^[4] Etymonline and Merriam-Webster date the mathematical sense to 1934, and Dictionary.com the word to 1935–40.^[5][2][3] Linguistics took it up in 1955, in Noam Chomsky's Logical Structure of Linguistic Theory, for a rule that can be applied again to its own output,^[4] and computing in 1958, for a definition or subroutine part of which calls for the application of the whole.^[4] Separately, phoneticians used it from 1924 for a consonant made with closure of the glottis.^[4]

Timeline

• 1766 – repeatedly or continually recurring (now rare).^[4] Etymonline dates it to 1790.^[5]
• 1916 – in mathematics and logic, of a procedure whose result at each step depends on the results of earlier steps.^[4] Merriam-Webster and Etymonline date the sense to 1934.^[2][5]
• 1924 – noun, in phonetics, a consonant made with glottal closure.^[4]
• 1934 – adjective, in phonetics, of such a consonant.^[4]
• 1955 – in linguistics, of a rule that can apply again to a form it produced.^[4]
• 1958 – in computing, of a statement, definition or subroutine that requires the application of the whole.^[4]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Relating to or involving recursion.^[2]
2. (mathematics, logic) Of a procedure: repeated so that the result at each step is defined in terms of the results of the earlier steps: a recursive definition of the factorial.^[4][7][2]
3. (computing) Of a subroutine, function or definition: calling or applying itself, so that it can repeat until a set condition is met: The program uses a recursive search of the directory tree.^[4][2]
4. (linguistics) Of a grammatical rule: able to be applied again to a construction that it has itself produced.^[4][2]
5. (phonetics) Of a consonant: made with closure of the glottis.^[4]
6. (rare) Recurring repeatedly; recurrent.^[4][7]

Noun

1. (phonetics) A recursive consonant.^[4]

Word family

• recursively
• recursiveness
• recursive definition

Related words

• recursion
• recur
• recurrent
• course
• current

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
3. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b c Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press