Many people lost their jobs during the recessions.

recessions 是名词 recession 的复数形式。recession 由前缀 re-（表示"向后"）和词根 cess（来自拉丁语 cedere，意为"走"）加上名词后缀 -ion 组成，字面意思是"后退"，引申为"经济衰退"。