verb
recruit
To persuade or enlist someone to join an organization, cause, or armed force.
Where it comes from
Recruit ordinarily means to persuade or enlist someone to join an organization, cause, or armed force. English recruit came from French recruter and recrue. The French family goes back to a verb meaning to grow or increase again, built from re-, again, and the ancestor of French croître, to grow, ultimately Latin crescere. A recrue was literally a new growth or fresh supply, then specifically a levy or reinforcement of troops. English recruit first concerned restoring or strengthening something with fresh supplies and soon referred to enlisting soldiers.
How the meaning developed
Its familiar employment and membership senses expanded from that military use.
Sources
- American Heritage Dictionary Entry: recruit
- recruter | Dictionnaire de l'Académie française, 9e édition
- RECRUTER: Étymologie de RECRUTER
- Recruit: Etymology, Origin & Meaning
Definitions adapted from Open English WordNet where applicable. License and attribution. Word-history text comes from Lexifour’s sourced social research; pages are assembled automatically, not individually fact-checked on every update.
Updated 2026-10-05. Report a correction.