recycle

Definitions

re- (again) + cycle = put through the cycle again. Materials that would be thrown away are sent back through the loop of production to become new products. The metaphor also extends to ideas: to recycle an old argument is to reuse it.

Why It Means This

recycle takes the wheel image of cycle and adds re- ('again'): you put waste back onto the wheel so it loops into something useful instead of ending up as trash. The word only became common with the environmental movement of the 1960s–70s, but the logic is pure cycl-: closing the loop so nothing leaves the circle. The everyday extension — recycling an old joke, recycling content — keeps the same 'send it round again' idea.

Common Collocations

• 1.recycle waste回收废物
• 2.recycle paper回收纸张
• 3.recycle plastic回收塑料
• 4.recycle materials回收材料

Example Sentences

• 1.

  We recycle glass, paper, and plastic at home.

• 2.

  Old newspapers can be recycled into cardboard.

• 3.

  The writer simply recycled jokes from his earlier shows.