repayment

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English repaiement, also repaiment,^[2] partly borrowed from Anglo-Norman repaiement (“repayment, reimbursement”), formed from repaier (“to repay”) and -ment, and partly, in later use, formed from English repay + -ment.^[3][4][5] The Anglo-Norman noun is recorded from 1373.^[3][6] Etymonline analyses it as re- and payment.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The paying back of money that has been lent or overpaid: 1421, in the Rolls of Parliament.^[3][2] Etymonline dates it to the early 15th century.^[7]

Semantic evolution

A figurative sense, a return or recompense for a kindness or a wrong, appears in 1561, in Thomas Norton's translation of Calvin's Institution.^[3][5] Johnson (1755) gives both the act of repaying and the thing repaid,^[8] and the OED records the concrete sense, a sum paid to settle a debt or loan, from 1758.^[3]

Timeline

• 1373 – Anglo-Norman repaiement.^[3][6]
• 1421 – the act of paying back money.^[3][2]
• 1561 – figurative, a return or recompense.^[3]
• 1755 – Johnson: the act of repaying; the thing repaid.^[8]
• 1758 – a sum paid back on a debt or loan.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. The act of paying back money that is owed: The bank agreed to delay repayment of the loan.^[4][3][5]
2. A sum paid back, especially one of a series of payments on a loan or mortgage.^[3][8]
3. A return for something done, good or bad; requital: Their neglect was a poor repayment for his years of service.^[4][3][5]

Related words

• repay
• payment
• pay

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 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ a b c d Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
7. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
8. ^ a b c Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.