acquit

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English aquiten, also acwiten,^[2][3] borrowed from Old French aquiter, also acquiter,^[4][5][6] and Anglo-Norman aquiter,^[5][7][8] perhaps with some input from Medieval Latin acquitō (“to discharge of an obligation”).^[2][4][5] The French verb is formed from a- (“to”), from Latin ad-, and quite (“free, clear”),^[4][6][7][5] from Medieval Latin quittus, a variant of Latin quiētus (“at rest, free”),^[6][4][9] the past participle of quiēscō (“to rest”),^[6] from quiēs (“rest”).^[10][11] Etymonline takes it back to Proto-Indo-European *kweie- (“to rest, be quiet”).^[4] The Shorter Oxford and the Oxford Dictionary of English instead derive the French verb from Medieval Latin, with quitō (“to set free”) as the base,^[12][13] and Hoad, Klein and Weekley reconstruct the same formation as Vulgar Latin *acquitō.^[14][11][15] The spelling with c began to replace the older one in the 15th century, in imitation of Latin forms with ac- before q.^[3] The word is related to quit and quiet.^[10][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

To pay a prisoner's debt and so give freedom, or to ransom someone: c. 1225, in the Ancrene Riwle,^[5] which also has the sense "to pay off a claim or debt" in a manuscript from before 1250.^[5] Barnhart dates the Ancrene Riwle use to probably before 1200,^[3] and Etymonline dates the word to the mid-13th century, as "repay, reciprocate".^[4]

Semantic evolution

According to Ayto, the sense "put to rest" of the Latin verb had already moved to "settle", as in settling a debt, and English took the word with that meaning.^[10] Etymonline sees the common notion as release or discharge, whether from an obligation or from an accusation.^[4] From 1340 it was used of relieving someone of an obligation,^[5] which led to "to pronounce not guilty" and "to discharge one's duty, to behave", both from the late 14th century.^[4] Barnhart finds the legal sense about 1390, in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales,^[3] though French already had it before 1210.^[5] Benson's concordance records the reflexive use "to conduct oneself" in Chaucer and Gower.^[16] Ayto derives this now common use from the idea of discharging one's duties.^[10] The older sense of repaying a person or a benefit, good or bad, died out by 1727,^[5] and Johnson (1755) puts "to set free" first and "to clear from a charge of guilt" second.^[17] A short past participle acquit, recorded from before 1393 in Gower, was used as an adjective,^[5] and Spenser wrote "to be acquit fro my continual smart".^[7]

Timeline

• c. 1225 – to pay the debt of and free a prisoner; to ransom (obsolete by 1590).^[5]
• before 1250 – to pay off a claim or debt; to redeem a pledge.^[5] Etymonline dates this sense to c. 1300.^[4]
• c. 1300 – to pay back a person; to requite (obsolete by 1622).^[5]
• 1340 – to release someone from an obligation.^[5]
• c. 1390 – to clear of a charge, to declare not guilty.^[3]
• late 14th century – reflexive, to discharge one's duty; to conduct oneself.^[4]
• before 1393 – adjective, acquit, cleared or free of blame or liability.^[5]
• c. 1460 – to perform a duty or fulfil an office.^[5]
• c. 1460 – noun, an acquittance (obsolete by 1779).^[5]

Meanings

Verb

1. To declare someone not guilty of a charge: The jury acquitted the driver.^[6][18][12]
2. (reflexive) To conduct or perform oneself in a stated way, usually well: The young goalkeeper acquitted himself well.^[6][7][18]
3. (archaic) To release someone from an obligation or duty.^[6][5][12]
4. (archaic) To pay off a claim or debt.^[7][12]
5. (obsolete, c. 1300–1727) To pay back; to requite.^[7][6][5]
6. (obsolete, c. 1225–1590) To set free by paying a debt or ransom.^[7][5]

Adjective

1. (archaic) Acquitted; set free or rid of something.^[7][5][12]

Noun

1. (obsolete, c. 1460–1779) An acquittance; the act of acquitting.^[5][12]

Word family

• acquitter
• acquittal
• acquittance
• unacquitted

Related words

• quit
• quiet

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
3. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c d e f g h The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
7. ^ a b c d e f g h Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
8. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
9. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
10. ^ a b c d Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
11. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
12. ^ a b c d e f Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
13. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
14. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
15. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
16. ^ Benson, Larry D., Glossarial Concordance to Middle English (Chaucer, Gower), Johns Hopkins University, github.com/jhu-digital-manuscripts/gcme
17. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
18. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins