repay

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English repaien,^[2] borrowed from Anglo-Norman repaier,^[3][4] also repaier (modern repayer),^[5][6][7][8] formed from re- (“back”) and paier (“to pay”),^[5][3][6] the source of pay, from Latin pācō (“to pacify, satisfy”), from pāx (“peace”).^[5] In Old French the verb meant to give a blow in return from the 12th century,^[3] and the Anglo-Norman Dictionary records it from 1354 for repaying a sum or recompensing someone.^[4] Merriam-Webster takes it as formed in English from re- and pay,^[9] and Dictionary.com, which dates it 1520–30, from repaier.^[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

To pay back a loan: 1439, in records of a loan to the king to be "repayed atte Fest of Seynt Martyn".^[2][3] Etymonline dates the sense "pay back, refund" to the mid-15th century.^[5]

Semantic evolution

From money the verb spread to the person paid back (before 1530) and to returning one thing for another: from 1553 it meant to give something in return, a sense obsolete after 1819.^[3][5] In 1557 it was used figuratively of giving a person what is deserved, in reward or in retribution,^[3] and by the 1590s of making a return or requital for something, good or bad.^[5][3] Johnson (1755) defined it as paying back "in return, in requital, or in revenge", quoting Isaiah's "he will repay recompense to his enemies".^[11] It was used of returning a blow or a visit from about 1586,^[3][12] and of avenging a wrong in kind from 1614, now rarely.^[3] From 1610 a thing could repay the effort spent on it, that is, reward it.^[3][9] The OED also records a noun repay, repayment, from 1579.^[3]

Timeline

• 1439 – to pay back a loan.^[3][2]
• before 1530 – to pay back a creditor.^[3]
• 1553 – to give in return (obsolete by 1819).^[3]
• 1557 – to reward or punish a person as deserved.^[3]
• 1579 – noun, repayment.^[3]
• c. 1586 – to return a blow, visit or greeting.^[3]
• 1610 – of a thing, to reward someone's effort.^[3]
• 1614 – to avenge a wrong in kind.^[3]

Meanings

Verb

1. To pay back money that is owed; to refund a loan or debt: It took her ten years to repay the mortgage.^[13][9][3]
2. To pay back a person; to reimburse.^[13][9][3]
3. To make a return for something done, as a kindness or a wrong; to requite: How can we ever repay your help?^[13][9][3]
4. To return a blow, visit or greeting.^[3][12]
5. Of a thing, to reward the effort spent on it: The old town repays a slow walk.^[3][9]

Word family

• repayable
• repayment
• repayability
• nonrepaying

Related words

• pay
• pacify
• peace

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c 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 h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
5. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
7. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
10. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
11. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
12. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
13. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins