recycle

Etymology

It is formed from English re- (“again”) + cycle, the verb cycle meaning to pass through a cycle.^{[2][3][4][5][6]}

Earliest recorded meaning

To reuse material in an industrial process, or to return it to an earlier stage of a cyclic process: 1925, in a United States patent.^[2] Etymonline dates the verb to 1922, originally of industrial processes,^[3] Merriam-Webster gives 1925 for its first sense,^[7] and Barnhart finds it implied in recycling in 1926.^[4]

Semantic evolution

The word began as a term of industrial chemistry and engineering.^[3][2] The specific application to waste, processing it into a usable form, is recorded from 1960, in the magazine Aeroplane,^[2][4][3] and the intransitive sense, to take part in recycling household waste, from 1971.^[2] From 1965 it was also used of natural processes returning material to an earlier stage.^[2] The figurative sense, to reuse something, often slightly altered, appears in 1969.^[2][3] Separately, electronics used it from 1943 of a counter returning to its initial state.^[2] The noun and adjective, of material set aside for recycling, followed in 1926.^[2][7]

Timeline

• 1925 – to reuse material in an industrial process.^[2][7]
• 1926 – adjective, of material or equipment for recycling.^[2] Barnhart finds recycling in the same year.^[4]
• 1943 – of a counter, to return to its initial state.^[2]
• 1960 – to process waste into a usable form.^[2][4][3]
• 1961 – noun, the process of recycling.^[2]
• 1965 – of organisms and natural processes, to return material to an earlier stage.^[2]
• 1969 – figurative, to reuse in a slightly altered form.^[2][3]
• 1971 – intransitive, to take part in recycling household waste.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. To process used materials such as glass, paper or plastic so that they can be made into new products: The town recycles its aluminium cans.^[7][8][2]
2. To use something again, especially in a slightly changed form: The director recycled an old plot for his new film.^[7][2]
3. To pass a substance through a system again for further treatment or use.^[8][2]
4. To repeat a series of operations, or of a device, to return to an initial state.^[8][2]

Noun

1. The process of recycling, or the material that is recycled.^[2][7]

Word family

• recyclable
• recycler
• recyclability

Related words

• cycle
• bicycle
• cyclic

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
5. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
7. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
8. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins