Recreant Definition

rĕkrē-ənt
adjective
Cowardly; craven.
Webster's New World
Failing to keep faith; disloyal; traitorous.
Webster's New World

(now rare, poetic) Having admitted defeat and surrendered; defeated. [from 13th c.]

Wiktionary
noun
A coward; craven.
Webster's New World
A disloyal person; traitor.
Webster's New World

Other Word Forms of Recreant

Noun

Singular:
recreant
Plural:
recreants

Origin of Recreant

  • Middle English recreaunt defeated from Old French recreant present participle of recroire to yield in a trial by combat, surrender allegiance from Medieval Latin recrēdere to yield, pledge Latin re- re- Latin crēdere to believe kerd- in Indo-European roots

    From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition

  • From Anglo-Norman recreent, Middle French recreant (“defeated"), from recroire (“to yield in a trial by combat, surrender allegiance"). See recray; and compare miscreant.

    From Wiktionary

Find Similar Words

Find similar words to recreant using the buttons below.

Words Starting With

Words Ending With

Unscrambles

recreant