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reckon [reckon 词源字典]: reckon: [OE] Reckon originally meant ‘give a list of, enumerate, tell’. The sense ‘count’ had developed by the 13th century, and ‘estimate, consider’ emerged in the 14th century. It comes ultimately from a prehistoric West Germanic *rekenōjan, which also produced German rechnen ‘count’ and Dutch rekenen.
[reckon etymology, reckon origin, 英语词源]
recluse: recluse: [13] A recluse is etymologically a person who is ‘shut up’. The word was borrowed from reclus, the past participle of Old French reclure ‘shut up’. This was descended from Latin reclūdere, a compound verb formed from the prefix re- ‘again’ and claudere ‘shut’ (source of English close) which originally, paradoxically, meant ‘open’ – the notion being ‘reversing the process of closing’. ‘Shut up’ emerged in the post-classical period.
=> close
recognize: recognize: [15] Latin gnōscere ‘become acquainted’ came from the same prehistoric Indo-European base, *gnō-, as produced English know. Combination with the prefix co- ‘with’ gave cognōscere ‘know’ (source of English cognition, quaint, etc). And this in turn had the prefix re- ‘again’ added to it to produce recognōscere ‘know again’, which found its way into English via reconniss-, the stem of Old French reconnaistre (the -ize ending is an English introduction).

English has three noun derivatives of the verb: recognition [15], from Latin recognitiō; recognizance [14], now purely a legal term, borrowed from Old French reconnissance and remodelled on the basis of recognize; and reconnaissance [19], borrowed from modern French during the Napoleonic wars. Reconnoitre [18] comes from the now obsolete French reconnoître, which like its surviving variant reconnaître goes back to Latin recognōscere.
=> cognition, know, quaint, reconnaissance, reconnoitre
recoil: recoil: [13] Recoil has no connection with coil. In fact, etymologically it means virtually ‘withdraw backside first’, for it was coined in French on the basis of cul ‘arse, backside’. This went back to Latin cūlus ‘arse’, which was probably related to Sanskrit kūla- ‘rearguard’.
recollect: recollect: [16] Recollect originated in Latin as recolligere, a compound verb formed from the prefix re- ‘again’ and colligere ‘gather’ (source of English collect). At first it simply meant literally ‘gather again’, but in the post-classical period it was extended metaphorically to ‘recall, remember’. English acquired it through its past participle stem recollect-.
recondite: recondite: [17] Recondite ‘obscure, abstruse’ means etymologically ‘hidden’. It comes from reconditus, the past participle of Latin recondere ‘hide’. This was a compound verb formed from the prefix re- ‘again’ and condere ‘put away, store’ (ultimate source of English condiment [15], literally ‘stored’ or ‘preserved’ food).
=> condiment
reconnaissance: reconnaissance: see recognize
reconnoitre: reconnoitre: see recognize
record: record: [13] To record something is etymologically to commit it to one’s ‘heart’. The word comes via Old French recorder from Latin recordārī ‘go over in one’s mind, ponder, remember’. This was a compound verb based on Latin cor ‘heart’ (source of English concord, cordial [14], courage, etc), used metaphorically in the sense ‘mind’. The notion of ‘putting something down in writing or other permanent form’ did not emerge until the Old French stage in the word’s history. The derivative recorder ‘woodwind instrument’ [15] depends on a now obsolete sense of record, ‘practise a tune’.
=> concord, cordial, courage, quarry
recourse: recourse: see course
recover: recover: [14] Recover and recuperate [16] are ultimately the same word. Both come from Latin recuperāre ‘recover, regain’, a compound verb based on the stem cup- ‘take’ (a variant of which produced capere ‘take’, source of English captive, capture, etc). Recuperate itself was acquired directly from the Latin verb’s past participle, whereas recover was routed via Old French recoverer. (Re-cover ‘cover again’, spelled similarly but pronounced differently, also dates from the 14th century.)
=> captive, capture, recuperate
recruit: recruit: [17] Etymologically, a recruit is something that ‘grows again’. The word’s ultimate ancestor is Latin recrēscere ‘regrow’, a compound verb formed from the prefix re- ‘again’ and crēscere ‘grow’ (source of English crescent, increase, etc). This passed into French as recroître, whose feminine past participle in the standard language was recrue. In the dialect of northeastern France, however, it was recrute, and it was this, used as a noun meaning ‘new growth’, hence ‘reinforcement of troops’, that gave English recruit.
=> crescent, croissant, increase
rector: rector: [14] A rector is etymologically a ‘ruler’. The word comes via Old French rectour from Latin rēctor ‘governor’, a derivative of the verb regere ‘govern, rule’ (from which English gets regent, region, etc). It carried its original meaning with it into English, with reference both to Roman governors in the ancient world and to God as ‘ruler’ of the universe (Sir Matthew Hale in 1676 referred to God as the ‘great dispenser or permitter and rector of all the events in the world’), but by the 18th century it had largely become restricted to the more specialized senses ‘clergyman in charge of a parish’ and ‘head of a college’.
=> regent, regiment, region
rectum: rectum: [16] Rectum is one of a range of words bequeathed to English by Latin rēctus ‘straight, correct’ (a distant relative of English right). Others include rectangle [16], rectify [14], and rectitude [15]. Rectum itself is short for rēctum intestīnum ‘straight intestine’ – a term contrasting the rectum with the convolutions of the remainder of the intestines.
=> direct, rectify, rectitude, right
recumbent: recumbent: see incubate
recuperate: recuperate: see recover
recusant: recusant: see refuse
red: red: [OE] Red is an ancient colour-term, whose history can be traced back to prehistoric Indo- European *reudh-. This also produced Greek eruthrós ‘red’ (source of English erythrocyte ‘red blood cell’ [19]) and a whole range of Latin ‘red’-words, including ruber (source of English rubicund and ruby), rubeus (source of English rouge [15]), russus (source of English rissole and russet), and rūfus (source of English rufous [18]).

Amongst other English words from the same Indo-European source are robust, ruby, ruddy [OE], and rust. The immediate Germanic precursor of red was *rauthaz, which also produced German rot, Dutch rood, Swedish röd, and Danish rød.
=> corroborate, erythrocyte, rissole, robust, rouge, ruby, ruddy, russet, rust
redeem: redeem: [15] The -deem is not the same word as deem (which is related to doom). In fact, there never was a true -deem in it. It comes from Latin emere ‘take, buy’ (source also of English example, prompt, etc), which when combined with the prefix re- ‘again, back’ had a d grafted into it to produce redimere ‘buy back’. English probably acquired it via French rédimer.
=> example, prompt, sample
redolent: redolent: [14] Etymologically, something that is redolent of something ‘smells’ of it. The word comes ultimately from Latin olēre ‘smell’, which was derived from the same base as produced English odour. Combination with the prefix re- ‘back’ resulted in redolēre ‘emit a smell’, from whose present participle English gets redolent. The Latin word was mainly used to convey the notion ‘smelling of something’, and this lies behind the English word’s metaphorical use for ‘suggestive, reminiscent, evocative’, first recorded in the early 19th century.
=> odour