recessrecess

The story

The noun is borrowed from Latin recessus (‘act of going back, departure, receding, retiring; (figuratively) retreat, withdrawal; (metonymically) distant, secluded, or secret spot, corner, nook, retreat; recessed part, indentation’) (also Late Latin recessus (‘decree or resolution of the Diet of the Holy Roman Empire’)), from recēdō (‘to go back, recede, retire, withdraw; to go away, depart; (by extension) to disappear, vanish; to separate; to stand back, be distant; to yield’) (from re- (prefix meaning ‘back, backwards’) + cēdō (‘to go, move, proceed’)) + -tus (suffix forming action nouns from verbs); influenced by Middle French recès, French recès (‘a break, pause; break between classes in school; school vacation; ebbing of tide; reduction’) (also Anglo-Norman recès and Old French recès (‘hiding place; hollow’). Noun sense 5 (‘decree or resolution of the diet of the Holy Roman Empire, etc.’) is possibly influenced by Italian recesso and refers to a decree or resolution made just before a meeting ends.