Recoil comes from Old French reculer ('to go backward, retreat'), from re- ('back') + cul ('rump, backside'), from Latin culus. The historical chain includes Old French reculer and Latin culus. Older glosses in the chain include "to go backward, retreat", "back", and "rump, backside", which help explain the semantic range of the modern word. Morphologically, recoil is best read as compound and borrowing, yielding an English verb and noun shaped by both form history and later usage. In current English it functions as a verb and noun, with the sense "to draw back suddenly in fear or disgust; the backward kick of a gun". English derivatives include recoilless; related forms include coil. The result is an English verb and noun whose etymology preserves the older forms while supporting the word's specialized modern meaning.