A defect recognition system and a defect recognition method are described. The method includes inspecting a wafer to generate a defect map and locating at least one defect on the wafer by using the defect map; measuring at least one light component of light reflected from one of the at least one defect; comparing the at least one light component measured from the light reflected from the defect with a characteristic curve of the corresponding light component of the defect; and estimating an occurrence time of the defect based on the comparison.
