recurse
/ɹɪˈkɜː(ɹ)s/verb
recurse is spelled R-E-C-U-R-S-E: 7 letters. It appears about once in every 65 million words in written English, the 252,559th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a verb, recurse means “To execute a procedure recursively” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in recurse?
| Letters | 7: R-E-C-U-R-S-E |
|---|---|
| In writing | about once in every 65 million words; the 252,559th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Same letters |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How common is recurse?
Recurse appears about once in every 65 million words in written English, the 252,559th 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 recurse?
- /ɹɪˈkɜː(ɹ)s/
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-recurse.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What rhymes with recurse?
No other word on PlainSpell ends in the same sounds as recurse.
Spelled with the same letters in another order: rescuer.
Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).
Forms of recurse
- recurses present, singular, he/she/it
- recursing participle, present
- recursed participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does recurse mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
verb
- 1
To execute a procedure recursively.
The algorithm then recurses on the children of the current tree node.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Where does recurse come from?
Back-formation from recursion.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).