Recoup comes from French recouper ('to cut back'), from re- ('back') + couper ('to cut'), from Old French colper, from coup ('a blow'), from Latin colaphus, from Ancient Greek kolaphos ('a blow with the fist'). The historical chain includes Old French recouper, Old French couper, and Latin colaphus. Older glosses in the chain include "to cut back", "back", "to cut", and "a blow", which help explain the semantic range of the modern word. Morphologically, recoup is best read as compound and borrowing, yielding an English verb shaped by both form history and later usage. In current English it functions as a verb, with the sense "to regain or recover something lost, especially money". English derivatives include recouped, recouping, recoupment, and recoupable. The result is an English verb whose etymology preserves the older forms while supporting the word's specialized modern meaning.