acquittal

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English aquitaille, also acquitaille and aquital,^[2][3][4] borrowed from Anglo-Norman acquitaille, also acquitel,^[3][4][5][2] from aquiter (“to acquit”) and a suffix corresponding to -al.^[3] The Anglo-Norman noun is recorded from 1311, meaning release from financial liability.^[6] The revised OED instead takes the English word as formed from the English verb and the same suffix, comparing the Anglo-Norman noun,^[7] and Etymonline and the Shorter Oxford also derive it from the English verb.^[8][9] Acquit is from Old French aquiter (“to pay, settle a claim”), formed from a- and quite (“free, clear”), from Medieval Latin quitus, from Latin quiētus (“free; calm, resting”).^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

Conduct, the way in which a person carries out a duty: 1430, in the Proceedings of the Privy Council.^[7][2] Etymonline dates the word to the early 15th century with the sense payment of a debt or retribution.^[8]

Semantic evolution

Several of the senses of acquit were taken over by the noun: performance of a duty (1430), payment or retribution (before 1475), and release from a debt or obligation (about 1538, now historical).^[7][8] The legal sense, a verdict that someone is not guilty of the charge, is recorded as early as 1434 in the OED,^[7] while Etymonline dates the freeing of an accused person by legal process to the 1530s and the Shorter Oxford to the late 15th century.^[8][9] Johnson (1755) gave only the legal sense, deliverance from the suspicion or guilt of an offence.^[10] The sense of payment or requital is now obsolete.^[3][9] In the 17th century the word was also used of deliverance from death or eternal punishment.^[7]

Timeline

• 1430 – the carrying out of a duty; performance, conduct.^[7][2]
• 1434 – a verdict that a person is not guilty of a charge.^[7]
• before 1475 – payment, especially of a debt; requital.^[7]
• c. 1538 – release from a debt, tax or obligation.^[7]
• 1619 – a means of escaping danger; deliverance from punishment (obsolete).^[7]

Meanings

Noun

1. (law) A verdict or other legal decision that a person is not guilty of the crime charged: The trial ended in an acquittal.^{[3][11][7][12]}
2. Release or discharge from a debt or other obligation.^[3][11][7]
3. (rare) The carrying out of a duty; performance.^[7][9]
4. (obsolete) Payment or requital.^[3][9]

Word family

• nonacquittal
• preacquittal

Related words

• acquit
• acquittance
• quit
• quiet
• quite

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d 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 f g Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b Gove, Philip Babcock, ed. (1961), Webster's Third New International Dictionary of the English Language, Unabridged, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam
5. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
6. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
9. ^ a b c d e Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
11. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
12. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt