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reciprocal

adjective

  1. linguistic structure that marks a particular kind of relationship between two noun phrases
  2. respond in kind, building a relationship of mutual dependency
  3. move back and forth alternately
L227558 on Wikidata ↗

noun

  1. of a number x, 1 divided by x
L326465 on Wikidata ↗

Wiktionary

Pronunciation: /ɹɪˈsɪpɹək(ə)l/

adj

Etymology: From Latin reciprocus, possibly from a phrase such as reque proque (“back and forth, to and fro”), from re- (“back”), prō (“forwards”) and -que (“and”).

  1. Of a feeling, action or such: mutual, uniformly felt or done by each party towards the other or others; two-way.

    reciprocal love

    reciprocal duties

  2. Mutually interchangeable.

    These two rules will render a definition reciprocal with the thing defined.

  3. Expressing mutual action, applied to pronouns and verbs; also in a broad sense: reflexive.
  4. Used to denote different kinds of mutual relation; often with reference to the substitution of reciprocals for given quantities.

noun

Etymology: From Latin reciprocus, possibly from a phrase such as reque proque (“back and forth, to and fro”), from re- (“back”), prō (“forwards”) and -que (“and”).

  1. The number obtained by dividing 1 by another given number; the result of exchanging the numerator and the denominator of a fraction.

    0.5 is the reciprocal of 2.

  2. A construction expressing mutual action.

    Depending on where reciprocalization applies (syntax vs. lexicon), the relevant reciprocal verbs are claimed to exhibit specific properties, in particular: (i) syntactic reciprocals are fully productive whereas lexical reciprocals have only limited productivity; […]