Meaning

noun emergence during embryonic development of various characters or structures that appeared during the evolutionary history of the strain or species

noun (music) the section of a composition or movement (especially in sonata form) in which musical themes that were introduced earlier are repeated

noun a summary at the end that repeats the substance of a longer discussion

originFrom Anglo-Norman recapitulaciun et al., Middle French recapitulacion et al., or their source, from Late Latin recapitulatio (“summing up, summary”), from the participle stem of recapitulare (“recapitulate”), from re- + capitulum (“chapter, section”), diminutive of caput (“head”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 3.0