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PlainSpell

recover

UK /ɹɪˈkʌvə/verb, noun

recover is spelled R-E-C-O-V-E-R: 7 letters and 3 syllables. It appears 19 times per million words in written English, the 4,365th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a verb, recover means “To get back, to regain (a physical thing; in astronomy and navigation, sight of a thing or a signal)” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).

How many letters and syllables are in recover?

Letters7: R-E-C-O-V-E-R
Syllables3 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing19 times per million words; the 4,365th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Pairs people search

Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026).

How common is recover?

Recover appears 19 times per million words in written English, the 4,365th most frequent word form in the list.

Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How do you pronounce recover?

  • British /ɹɪˈkʌvə/
  • /ɹɪˈkʊvə/
  • /ɹɪˈkəvə/

As a verb (“To cover again”): /ɹiːˈkʌvə/, /ɹiˈkʌvɚ/.

Recover has 3 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-recover.ogg, LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-recover2.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Words people confuse with recover

Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).

re-cover vs recover0 B

Also written: re-cover (one word or two).

Sources: Google and Bing searches (September 2025 to August 2026, through DataForSEO); English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).

Forms of recover

  • recovers present, singular, he/she/it, plural
  • recovering participle, present
  • recovered participle, past, singular, he/she/it, plural
  • recovre
  • re-cover

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does recover mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

verb

  1. 1

    To get back, to regain (a physical thing; in astronomy and navigation, sight of a thing or a signal).

    After days of inquiries, he finally recovered his lost wallet.

  2. 2

    To salvage, to extricate, to rescue (a thing or person).

    They recovered three of the explorers very much alive, then another, wracked with severe hypothermia, who was taken to hospital.

  3. 3

    To replenish to, resume (a good state of mind or body).

    At the top of the hill I asked to stop for a few minutes to recover my strength.

  4. 4

    To obtain a positive judgement; to win in a lawsuit.

    The plaintiff recovered in his suit, being awarded declaratory relief and a clearing of his name.

  5. 5

    To gain as compensation or reparation, usually by formal legal process.

    to recover damages in trespass; to recover debt and costs in a legal action or that is owing

  6. 6

    obsoleteTo reach (a place), arrive at.

  7. 7

    archaicTo restore to good health, consciousness, life etc.

  8. 8

    archaicTo make good by reparation; to make up for; to retrieve; to repair the loss or injury of.

    to recover lost time

  9. 9

    To cover again.

  10. 10

    To add a new roof membrane or steep-slope covering over an existing one.

noun

  1. 1

    obsoleteRecovery.

  2. 2

    A position of holding a firearm during exercises, whereby the lock is at shoulder height and the sling facing out.

  3. 3

    datedThe forward movement in rowing, after one stroke to take another (recovery).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Recover in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchrecouvrer (transitive: to get back, regain), récupérer, guérir, se remettre (intransitive: to get better, regain health)
Germanzurückgewinnen (transitive: to get back, regain), genesen, erholen (intransitive: to get better, regain health)
Portugueserecuperar (transitive: to get back, regain), recuperar-se, melhorar (intransitive: to get better, regain health)
Spanishreponerse, volver / tornar a salir adelante, no hundirse (intransitive: to get better, regain health)

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.

Where does recover come from?

From Middle English recoveren, rekeveren, from Anglo-Norman recoverer and Old French recovrer, from Latin recuperāre, alternative form of reciperāre. Doublet of recuperate. The noun is from Middle English recover, from the verb.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What to look up after recover