Etymograph

English

recidivist

Recidivist comes from French récidiviste ‘reoffending’, from Latin recidīvus ‘returning, recurring’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ḱad- ‘to fall’.

  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’
  7. Frenchc. 1600–presentrécidiviste3‘reoffending’
  8. Englishearliest quotation 1897recidivist3

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Latin recido
  2. 2 Wiktionary, Latin recidivus
  3. 3 Wiktionary, English recidivist
  4. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1897, Enrico Ferri, The Delinquent in Art and in Literature: “To return to Macbeth, I should like to note…”.

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 recidivist‘returning, recurring’
  7. Frenchc. 1600–presentrécidivisteWiktionary, English recidivist‘reoffending’
  8. Englishearliest quotation 1897recidivistWiktionary, English recidivist. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1897, Enrico Ferri, The Delinquent in Art and in Literature: “To return to Macbeth, I should like to note…”

Linked words

through Latin cadō ‘fall’

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

Today it means

noun One who falls back into prior habits, especially criminal habits.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “recidivist”; 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- / recidivist

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