repetition

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English repeticioun,^[2][3][4] borrowed from Middle French repeticion^[5][4] and directly borrowed from Latin repetītiō (“a repeating”).^[5][3][4][2] In Old French the word is recorded from 1295 for saying something again, from 1312 for claiming something back, and since 1476 for the rehearsal of a play.^[5] The Latin noun meant a going back, a claiming back, the repeating of a word and, in rhetoric, anaphora.^[5] It is formed from repetītus, the past participle of repetō (“to do or say again”),^[6][3][7] from re- (“again”) and petō (“to go to; attack; ask for”), from Proto-Indo-European *pet- (“to rush, to fly”).^[3] The OED compares Catalan repetició, Portuguese repetição and Italian ripetizione.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The action of saying again what one has already said; reiteration: probably before 1425, in a translation of Catherine of Siena's Orcherd of Syon, which promises "a schort repeticioun of þe forseid wordis".^[5][2] Dictionary.com dates it to 1375–1425.^[7]

Semantic evolution

In the 16th century the word spread from speech to recital and narration (1533), to repeating something in order to learn it (1537), to the rhetorical figure of repeated words (1550) and to reciting a piece learnt by heart (1579).^[5] Of actions and events that recur, it is recorded from about 1550 in the OED, but from the 1590s in Etymonline,^[5][3] and in music, for a repeated passage, from 1574.^[5] Johnson (1755) gave "iteration of the same thing" and "recital of the same words over again".^[8] In Scotland, from about 1456, it was also a claim for repayment or restitution,^[5] and in Scots law it still means the recovery of money paid by mistake.^[9] Later senses include the capacity of an organ to repeat a note quickly (1885) and, in athletics and bodybuilding, an exercise repeated as part of a set (1919),^[5] a use Etymonline dates to 1958.^[3]

Timeline

• before 1425 – the saying again of what has been said.^[5][2]
• c. 1456 – in Scotland, a claim for restitution or repayment.^[5]
• 1533 – recital, narration (now rare).^[5]
• 1537 – repetition in order to fix something in the memory.^[5]
• 1550 – in rhetoric, the use of repeated words.^[5]
• c. 1550 – the doing of something again; recurrence.^[5]
• 1574 – in music, a repeated passage.^[5]
• 1885 – an organ's capacity to repeat a note quickly.^[5]
• 1919 – in sport, a repeated training exercise.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. The act or an instance of repeating something already said or done; reiteration: Constant repetition made the slogan stick.^[10][9][5]
2. Something that is repeated, such as a word or action.^[9]
3. A replica or copy.^[9]
4. The recitation of something learnt by heart.^[10][5]
5. In rhetoric, the deliberate use of repeated words or phrases.^[5][11]
6. In music, a repeated passage, note or chord.^[5]
7. In training, one of a set of repeated exercises; a rep.^[5]
8. In Scots and civil law, the recovery of money paid by mistake.^[9][5]

Word family

• repetitional
• nonrepetition

Related words

• repetitious
• repeat
• repetitive
• petition

Usage notes

A separate, rarer repetition, pronounced with the first syllable as in re-, is formed from re- and petition and means a second or further petition; it is recorded from 1655.^[5]

References

1. ^ 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 Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 27 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
7. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
8. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
9. ^ a b c d e Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
10. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
11. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press