The story
- Latin · derived fromrecalcitrāns, recalcitrantis
- French · borrowed fromrécalcitrant
- English todayrecalcitrant
Borrowed from French récalcitrant, in derived from Latin recalcitrāns, recalcitrantis, present participle of recalcitrō, recalcitrāre (“be disobedient, kick back [as a horse]”), from calx (“heel”), 1820s.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.