Etymograph

English

recidive

Recidive comes from Latin recidīvus ‘returning, recurring, falling back’, from cadō ‘fall’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ḱad-.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*ḱad-1‘to fall’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*ḱádeti1reconstructed
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*kadō1‘to fall, sink’reconstructed
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcadō1‘fall’
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CErecidō2‘to fall back’
  6. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CErecidīvus3‘returning, recurring, falling back’
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1537recidive3

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Latin recido
  2. 2 Wiktionary, Latin recidivus
  3. 3 Wiktionary, English recidive
  4. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1537, Cromwell to Sir Thomas Wyatt: “[H]is maieste had never remembred their precedent offenses nor…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*ḱad-Wiktionary, Latin recido‘to fall’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*ḱádetiWiktionary, Latin recidoreconstructed
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*kadōWiktionary, Latin recido‘to fall, sink’reconstructed
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcadōWiktionary, Latin recido‘fall’
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CErecidōWiktionary, Latin recidivus‘to fall back’
  6. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CErecidīvusWiktionary, English recidive‘returning, recurring, falling back’
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1537recidiveWiktionary, English recidive. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1537, Cromwell to Sir Thomas Wyatt: “[H]is maieste had never remembred their precedent offenses nor…”

Linked words

through Latin cadō ‘fall’

case, chance, occasion, accident, incident, cheat, decay, casualty, incidence, coincide, cadence, decadent, occidental, deciduous, cadaver, occident, 15 more

Another origin of recidive

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*ḱad-‘to fall’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*ḱádetireconstructed
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*kadō‘to fall, sink’reconstructed
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcadō‘fall’
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CErecidō‘to fall back’
  6. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CErecidīvusas recidīva‘returning, recurring, falling back’
  7. Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600recidiveuncertain
  8. Englishtodayrecidive

Another origin of recidive

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*ḱad-‘to fall’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*ḱádetireconstructed
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*kadō‘to fall, sink’reconstructed
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcadō‘fall’
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CErecidō‘to fall back’
  6. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CErecidīvus‘returning, recurring, falling back’
  7. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CErecidīvō
  8. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500resydiven
  9. Englishtodayrecidive

Today it means

adj Synonym of recidivous (“recurring”).

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “recidive”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entries for Latin recido, Latin recidivus. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *ḱad- / recidive

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