Buzz
Sometimes, adding an o to a word results in a completely different meaning, which can be either logical or absurd. However, in certain cases—like the classic possum-vs.-opossum debate—the distinction isn't always so simple. The case of recurring vs. reoccurring falls into that category (though this particular issue also involves an additional c).
The Oxford English Dictionary defines reoccur as “to occur again; to recur,” which doesn’t provide much insight into the difference between these two terms—unless your goal is simply to use them as synonyms. If that's the case, you're good to go with the OED’s (and our) approval.
For those looking to dive a bit deeper, however, there’s definitely more to this semantic discussion. While reoccurring does indicate that something is happening again, it doesn’t necessarily mean it has already occurred multiple times in the past—or that it will continue to occur in the future.
To rephrase, the first time your dog ate your homework, it happened. The second time, it happened again. But if your dog regularly eats your homework every week, that's a recurring problem. It's happened multiple times, it's likely to happen again, and there's a consistent pattern to it. However, something doesn't have to meet all of these conditions to be considered recurring. Perhaps your dog doesn't have a predictable snack schedule, or maybe you've learned to keep your work safe, preventing any more incidents. In general, if something happens repeatedly or at regular intervals, you might use recurring instead of reoccurring.
That being said, people have been using reoccur and recur interchangeably (the latter of which dates back to the early 1500s) since reoccur first appeared in print in the 18th century. The earliest reference of reoccur in the OED is from a 1734 English edition of François Fénelon’s The Adventures of Telemachus, where translator John Ozell writes, “the same objects frequently re-occur in this poem.” In other words, more than twice. So once again, feel free to use recurring and reoccurring as synonyms with our approval.
