Etymologically
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quit

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /kwɪt/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English quiten, borrowed from Old French quiter (“to clear, release, absolve”),[2][3][4] from the adjective quite, quitte “free, clear, discharged”,[2][5] from Medieval Latin quittus (“free of debt or claim”), a special development of Latin quiētus “free, at rest, calm”,[2][5][3] from Proto-Indo-European *kweie- (“to rest, be quiet”).[2] It is a doublet of quiet,[3] and related to quite, acquit and requite.[5][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The verb, to pay or settle a debt or obligation, and the adjective, free or clear of debt: probably before 1200 in Barnhart,[3] about 1200 in Etymonline.[2]

Semantic evolution

From freeing oneself of a debt the verb moved to freeing in general: “to release, absolve” (before 1250),[3] to reward or repay (mid-13th century), to declare not guilty (about 1300), and to acquit oneself (late 14th century).[2] The sense “to leave, depart from” is by about 1390,[3][2] and “to give up, relinquish” from the mid-15th century.[2] “To stop doing something” is from the 1640s in Etymonline and 1754 in Barnhart, though earlier uses point toward it.[2][3] The adjective survives mainly in be quit of and quits.[7][8] The noun, an act of quitting, is American English from 1923.[8][9]

Timeline

  • a. 1200 – to pay, settle a debt; free of debt.[3]
  • a. 1250 – to release, clear.[3]
  • mid-13th century – to repay.[2]
  • c. 1300 – to acquit of a charge.[2]
  • c. 1390 – to leave, depart from.[3][2]
  • mid-15th century – to give up.[2]
  • 1640s – to stop doing something.[2]
  • 1923 – noun, an act of quitting.[8]

Modern meaning

Verb

  1. To stop doing something.
  2. To leave a job, school or other position; to resign.
  3. To go away from a place or person.
  4. To give up or abandon.
  5. (archaic) To behave or acquit oneself: quit you like men.

Adjective

  1. quit of: free or rid of.

Word family

  • quittable
  • quitclaim
  • quits
  • quitter
  • quitrent
  • grassquit

Usage notes

Both quit and quitted are used for the past tense, quitted being more usual in British English.[10][1] A different word quit, the name of several small Jamaican birds (1847), is probably imitative.[8][4]

References

  1. ^ a b Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  4. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  5. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  7. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
  8. ^ a b c d Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  9. ^ Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  10. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins