Recreaunt

Part of speech: adjective

Definitions

1. A person who is cowardly, disloyal, or unfaithful to their obligations or allegiances
2. Someone who shows cowardice or proves false to their duty, faith, or companions
3. A coward or traitor who abandons their responsibilities or betrays those they should support

Etymology: In medieval trial by combat, a fighter who cried for mercy and surrendered could be branded a recreant. The term comes from Old French "recreant", meaning one who yields or gives up, and Edmund Spenser's spelling "recreaunt" in "The Faerie Queene" preserves the older form. Its original sense was martial: a defeated combatant who had admitted defeat and lost his standing. The meaning then widened. Anyone who abandoned a cause or a faith could be called a recreant, which is how it came to mean a coward or an apostate. The underlying Latin is likely "recredere", to yield or give back a pledge, though the exact route from that verb to the Old French form is uncertain.

Synonyms: cowardly, craven, timid, fearful

Antonyms: brave, courageous, valiant, bold