reckless English · revision 39394

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=inherited|attested=early Old English, Corpus Glossary}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /ˈɹɛkləs/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|enm|recheles]] or [[m|enm|reckeles]],^(Etymonline)^(MED)^(Barnhart 1988) [[inh|ang|rēcelēas|t=careless, heedless]], earlier [[m|ang|reccilēas]],^(Barnhart 1988)^(SOED 2002)^(Bosworth-Toller) formed from [[m|ang|rēce|t=care, heed]] (related to [[m|ang|reccan|t=to care]]) and [[m|ang|-lēas|t=-less]].^(Barnhart 1988)^(Klein 1966)^(Etymonline) It matches [[dum|roekeloos]], [[gml|rōkelōs]] and [[goh|ruahhalōs]] (modern [[de|ruchlos|t=wicked]] and [[nl|roekeloos]]),^(SOED 2002)^(Hoad 1986)^(Klein 1966) so the OED leaves open whether it was formed in English from [[reck]] and [[-less]] or is a shared West Germanic compound,^(OED 2026) as Ayto believes.^(Ayto 2005) The spellings with ck appear from the 12th century, under the influence of the verb.^(Hoad 1986)^(AHD 2024)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Heedless of the consequences of one's actions, rash: early Old English, in the Corpus Glossary, where ''reccileas'' glosses Latin ''prefaricator''.^(OED 2026)^(Bosworth-Toller)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Old English also used the word of someone careless in a duty, and Alfred's translation of Bede calls a man too ''rēcelēas'' about his own salvation.^(OED 2026)^(Bosworth-Toller)^(Barnhart 1988) In Middle English it could mean carefree (c. 1400 to 1475, in ''Piers Plowman'') or uncaring towards others (c. 1425 to 1758), and Chaucer has it twelve times, as ''recchelees'' and similar forms.^(OED 2026)^(GCME) An Old English verb, "to neglect", lasted until 1600.^(OED 2026) Johnson (1755) glossed the adjective "careless, heedless, mindless".^(Johnson 1755) The careless sense survives in phrases like ''reckless of the cost'', while the main sense, rash and heedless of danger, has been constant since Old English.^(OED 2026)^(MWU 2024)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * early Old English – careless of consequences, rash.^(OED 2026)

+ * before 899 – ''rēcelēas'' in Alfred's translation of Bede.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * c. 1200 – ''reckelæs'', in the ''Ormulum''.^(Barnhart 1988)^(Bosworth-Toller)

+ * c. 1400 – carefree (obsolete by 1475).^(OED 2026)

+ * a1450 – used as an adverb, recklessly.^(OED 2026)

+ * 1600 – last use of the verb, to neglect.^(OED 2026)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Adjective===

+ # Taking no care about [[danger]] or the consequences of one's actions; [[rash]]: ''a reckless overtaking manoeuvre''.^(Collins 2023)^(MWU 2024)

+ # Careless or heedless of something, used with ''of'': ''reckless of their own safety''.^(MWU 2024)^(OED 2026)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[recklessly]]

+ * [[recklessness]]

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+ ==Related words==

+ * [[reck]]

+ * [[careless]]

+ * [[heedless]]

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+ ==Usage notes==

+ In the dialects of Cumberland, Yorkshire, Lincolnshire, Northamptonshire, Gloucestershire, East Anglia, Hampshire and Somerset, ''reckless'' (also ''recklas'', ''racalus'', ''rickless'') was a name of the [[auricula]], a corruption of ''auriculas''.^(Wright 1898)

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+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}