recreant

/ˈɹɛkɹɪənt/

Etymology

From Middle English recreaunt, from Anglo-Norman and Middle French recreant (“defeated”), from recroire (“to yield in a trial by combat, surrender allegiance”). Compare miscreant.

recreant means Having admitted defeat and surrendered; defeated. Lexicurio rates it Rare gem — a strength score of 71 out of 100.

Why this word is great

RECREANT — [Adjective, Noun] Cowardly, disloyal; one who betrays a sworn duty or allegiance. Its etymology reveals a martial shame: from Middle English recreaunt, from Anglo-Norman and Middle French recreant ("defeated"), from recroire ("to yield in a trial by combat, surrender allegiance"), from Latin re- (expressing reversal) and credere ("to trust, believe")—thus, to take back one's trust, to unsay one's creed. Unlike "miscreant," which brands a villainous or heretical nature, or "craven," which denotes pure, abject fear, "recreant" specifies the failure of courage that manifests as faithlessness. It is the knight lowering his standard into the mud, the friend whose gaze slides away when testimony is required, the quiet click of a latch as one slips out the back door—a word not for evil, but for the profound disappointment of trust revoked, leaving only the hollow shape of a broken promise.

adj

Having admitted defeat and surrendered; defeated.“Soothly, he that despeireth hym is lyk The coward champious recreant, that seith, Creant withoute nede, allas! akkas! bedekes us He recreant and nedelees despeired. [Translation by Larry D. Benson from Riverside Chaucer: Truly, he that despairs himself is like the cowardly defeated champion, who says "I surrender" without need. Alas, alas, needless is he defeated and needless in despair.]”
Unfaithful to someone, or to one's duties or honour; disloyal, false.“Who, for ſo many benefits receiv'd, / Turn'd recreant to God, ingrate and falſe, / And ſo of all true good himſelf deſpoil'd, […]”

noun

Somebody who is recreant, who yields in combat; a coward or traitor.“[I]n the Choephoroe of Aeschylus Orestes pursues the same idea saying that unless he avenges his father, a stern duty which has devolved upon him, he will be punished in turn by the avengers of his father's wrongs. It may be remarked that in Maina to-day no recourse must be had to law for such cases, nor must the injured person satisfy himself by calling upon the aid of the police. To do this were”