Etymology Explorer › English

Where does “recruit” come from?

Recruit comes from French recruter, derived from French recrue, which originated in Old French recreu, the past participle of recreistre meaning to grow again or recover.

recruit (English): A supply of anything wasted or exhausted; a...

Definitions

  1. A supply of anything wasted or exhausted; a...

Ancestry of “recruit”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Frenchrecruterto recruit
2GermanRekrutrecruit; A soldier of the lowest rank in the...
3Frenchrecreute—
4Frenchrecruerecruit
5Old Frenchrecreu—
6Old Frenchrecreistre—

Words derived from “recruit”

  • recruitment
  • recruiting
  • recruiter
  • recruitable
  • postrecruitment
  • prerecruitment
  • overrecruitment
  • unrecruitable
  • recruitee
  • overrecruit
  • recruital
  • underrecruitment
  • nonrecruiting
  • recruitship
  • e-recruitment
  • e-recruiter
  • underrecruit
  • リクルート
  • रंगरूट
Every word from Old French recreistre →