means The act of identifying someone or something as already known, or the formal acknowledgment of a person's status, achievement, or existence.

from From Latin recognoscere, 'to know again' — re- ('again') plus cognoscere ('to come to know,' itself co- with gnoscere, an ancient root for knowing that also gives us 'cognition' and 'notice'). The word literally carries the idea of knowledge returning: not learning a thing for the first time, but the mind catching up with something it already held. It reached English through Old French in the 15th century, first in legal and formal senses before softening into the everyday flash of 'oh, it's you.'