Reoccurring Vs. Recurring: What’s The Difference?

Similar words have been confusing English speakers for as long as we’ve had any sort of dictionary – likely before. However, once a word was defined, it was much easier to argue that someone was using it incorrectly than before the words were written down.

In the case of reoccurring and recurring, the difference is quite slight. It’s unlikely that someone will correct you if you use recur instead of reoccur in a sentence, or vice versa – they’re often used interchangeably. However, if you’re curious about how to use them properly, this article will do its best to differentiate between the two.

The difference between the two words is subtle and isn’t something that’s obvious in the dictionary definition. That’s why your usage is unlikely to be corrected, especially as the words sound similar.

Reoccurring has an additional syllable, but even so, it’s also easy enough to misread one as the other, the only difference being that reoccurring has an added “oc” that recurring lacks.

The main way to determine the difference is to look at the words’ origins. Recur comes from “recurrere,” a classical Latin word that means “to run back, return or have recourse (to),” according to Merriam-Webster. Reoccur, on the other hand, is formed from the prefix re- and the word occur. So, from its formation, it literally means to occur again.

Key Takeaways:

What Does Reoccurring Mean?

Merriam Webster doesn’t have a separate definition for reoccurring, instead including it as a form of reoccur. The dictionary defines reoccur as “to occur again: to happen another time: recur.”

This may lead you to believe that the words have the same definition, and while you may not be wrong – you certainly have this author’s blessing to treat them synonymously – there are differences in connotation and the way they are used.

While the verb “occur” came into the English language in the 1400s, it wasn’t until the 1700s that English speakers decided to add the re- to it, creating reoccur. The first recorded usage was in 1734. The prefix re- also has its roots in Latin, though it comes more directly through Anglo-French, meaning “again: anew,” according to Merriam-Webster.

Reoccur is a transitive verb, which means that it needs to be used with a direct object. What this means is that there needs to be a clear noun (a person, place, or thing) in the sentence that is reoccurring.

That doesn’t mean that it needs to be right in front of the object, either. For example, “the manager took measures to prevent the accident from reoccurring” is a perfectly valid usage. However, as you can see, “accident” is the object that reoccurring is linked to.

Reoccurring is often used to imply that what you’re describing has happened before, but not to say that it happens with regularity or any sort of schedule. That’s not hard and fast, of course, but if you say, as above, that the accident reoccurred, everyone understands that it happened again, but they aren’t considering it a chronic problem at this point.

On the other hand, if the accident recurred, then you’re implying that it happens with some regularity.

Of the two terms, reoccur is the less common of the two. In fact, Google Docs’ grammar checker was determined to correct my usage of reoccur to recur as this article was being written. Reoccur is still in usage, and it’s a perfectly valid word – despite Google Docs’ protestations to the contrary – despite its rarity. In certain cases, it’s even the better word.

Here are a few usage examples:

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What Does Recurring Mean?

While recurring is the present participle of recur, it is also used as an adjective. Merriam-Webster even gives it a definition separate from recur. It means “repeatedly occurring: happening or appearing multiple times.”

Recur, however, has several different definitions. It can mean “to have recourse,” “to go back in thought or discourse,” or “to come up again for consideration. However, for the purpose of this article, the last definition is the one we’re focused on, which is “to occur again after an interval: occur time after time.” It’s the last part that makes it stand out from reoccur in its usage.

Recur is the older of the two terms, the first being recorded circa 1512. It was pulled from classical Latin, “recurrere,” meaning that it shares its Latin roots with reoccur.

The English word occur was pulled from the Latin word currere, which, without the prefix, means “to run to meet” or “confront in a hostile manner,” or even “be met,” according to Merriam Webster. It can also have the more abstract meaning of to “present itself (to the mind).”

While reoccur implies that it’s an irregular event – or perhaps even only the second time – recur does not. If something recurs, the assumption is that it happens at a regular interval. This is why subscription costs recur rather than reoccur (though it wouldn’t be incorrect to say that they reoccur, it would be considered peculiar usage).

The way to decide whether or not to use recur is to consider what you want the listener to take from it. Are you saying that it’s something that occurs with some regularity or has happened numerous times? Recur has an implication of a chronic nature, though the event need not be an exact schedule or a very short period of time.

Unlike reoccur, recur doesn’t have a noun form. Though, if you want to use a similar word that isn’t reoccurrence, you can use recurrence. That word, however, like all the others, has its own connotations to consider.

Here are some usage examples of recur:

Final Thoughts

In short, there’s a lot of overlap between recurring and reoccurring. However, if you want to be sure to use them as exactly as you can, here’s a simple way to look at them.

If an event recurs, this means it happens regularly or on a set schedule.

If an event reoccurs, it has happened before, but it’s sporadic in nature or rare. This is the second or third event, perhaps, over a long period of time.

All of this being said, these are two words where the differences in their usage are quite subtle. In many cases, the two words are interchangeable. Certainly, if you look at their definitions, Merriam-Webster uses recur in the definition of reoccur.

In short, if you wish to be precise, the connotative and usage differences between the two words have been laid out above. But in most conversations, the words are both correct, and you don’t need to worry very much about using the wrong one.

Author

Di Doherty

Di has been a writer for more than half her life. Most of her writing so far has been fiction, and she’s gotten short stories published in online magazines Kzine and Silver Blade, as well as a flash fiction piece in the Bookends review. Di graduated from Mary Baldwin College (now University) with a degree in Psychology and Sociology.