re-

Latin prefix

AI-inferred

re-

Again, back, or anew; marks return or repetition.

Old French

AI-inferred

re-

Productive prefix attached to verbs, including resortir.

Middle English

AI-inferred

re-

Retained in resorten as the sense of returning or falling back developed.

sortir

Latin

AI-inferred

sortīrī

To select, divide, or draw lots; the source of the Old French verb.

Old French

Verified

sortir

To go out; also to return, fall back, or have recourse.

from Old French resortir (“to fall back, return, resort, have recourse, appeal”), back-formation

Old French

Verified

resortir

Re- plus sortir: to go out again, return, or appeal for help.

from Old French resort "resource, a help, an aid, a remedy," back-formation

+1 more source

Middle English

Verified

resorten

To fall back on, have recourse to, or go to habitually.

from Old French resort "resource, a help, an aid, a remedy," back-formation

+1 more source

Combined

resortir

Old French re- (“again/back”) combines with sortir (“go out”), producing the idea of returning to a source of help or a place one goes.

Middle English

Verified

resorten

Used for turning to something for aid or repeatedly going to a place.

from Old French resort "resource, a help, an aid, a remedy," back-formation

+1 more source

English

Verified

resort

Noun first meant a resource or refuge; the recreational-place sense appears by 1754.

from Old French resort "resource, a help, an aid, a remedy," back-formation

+1 more source

Modern English

resort

Word Ancestry

re-

Latin prefix

AI-inferred

re-

Again, back, or anew; marks return or repetition.

Old French

AI-inferred

re-

Productive prefix attached to verbs, including resortir.

Middle English

AI-inferred

re-

Retained in resorten as the sense of returning or falling back developed.

sortir

Latin

AI-inferred

sortīrī

To select, divide, or draw lots; the source of the Old French verb.

Old French

Verified

sortir

To go out; also to return, fall back, or have recourse.

from Old French resortir (“to fall back, return, resort, have recourse, appeal”), back-formation

Old French

Verified

resortir

Re- plus sortir: to go out again, return, or appeal for help.

from Old French resort "resource, a help, an aid, a remedy," back-formation

+1 more source

Middle English

Verified

resorten

To fall back on, have recourse to, or go to habitually.

from Old French resort "resource, a help, an aid, a remedy," back-formation

+1 more source

Combined

resortir

Old French re- (“again/back”) combines with sortir (“go out”), producing the idea of returning to a source of help or a place one goes.

Middle English

Verified

resorten

Used for turning to something for aid or repeatedly going to a place.

from Old French resort "resource, a help, an aid, a remedy," back-formation

+1 more source

English

Verified

resort

Noun first meant a resource or refuge; the recreational-place sense appears by 1754.

from Old French resort "resource, a help, an aid, a remedy," back-formation

+1 more source

Modern English

resort

“

Picture a medieval traveler reaching the end of the road and turning back toward the one place that might help: that is the central image behind resort. Old French resortir meant “to go out again,” but it also carried the practical sense of returning, appealing, or falling back on something; English borrowed it as Middle English resorten. By the late fourteenth century, a resort was not yet a sunny hotel—it was a resource, refuge, or source of comfort. The recreational meaning arrived much later, recorded by 1754, when a place people repeatedly went for pleasure began to resemble the older idea of a place one could “resort” to. Even “in the last resort,” recorded in the 1670s, preserves the legal image of a final court of appeal: a resort is what remains when every earlier option has failed. The word therefore joins a beach holiday and a desperate fallback in one memorable picture: wherever you go when you need something, you are resorting.

The Story

“

Picture a medieval traveler reaching the end of the road and turning back toward the one place that might help: that is the central image behind resort. Old French resortir meant “to go out again,” but it also carried the practical sense of returning, appealing, or falling back on something; English borrowed it as Middle English resorten. By the late fourteenth century, a resort was not yet a sunny hotel—it was a resource, refuge, or source of comfort. The recreational meaning arrived much later, recorded by 1754, when a place people repeatedly went for pleasure began to resemble the older idea of a place one could “resort” to. Even “in the last resort,” recorded in the 1670s, preserves the legal image of a final court of appeal: a resort is what remains when every earlier option has failed. The word therefore joins a beach holiday and a desperate fallback in one memorable picture: wherever you go when you need something, you are resorting.