requite

Etymology

It is formed from Middle English re- (“back”) + quiten (“to pay”),^[2][3][4][5] quite being an early variant of quit that survives in this word.^[6][2][7] Etymonline and the MED allow also for Old French requiter,^[6][8] from which Johnson derived it.^[9] The Middle English verb is from Old French quiter (“to set free, discharge”),^[6][10] from Medieval Latin quiētō (“to set free, discharge”), from Latin quiētus (“quiet, calm; free”).^[10] The OED notes that some early forms could alternatively be taken as the related verb requit.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

To pay back what is owed: about 1440, in the alliterative Morte Arthure (composed perhaps before 1400), of arrears of rents, "Or þe rereage be requit of rentez".^[2][8][3] Etymonline gives about 1400,^[6] while Ayto, Weekley and the Oxford Dictionary of English place the word in the 16th century.^[10][11][12]

Semantic evolution

From repaying a debt it moved to making a fitting return for a favour or service, and by 1530 it was used of rewarding the person who did it.^[2] The return could be bad as well as good: from 1529, in More, it meant to avenge a wrong, and since 1534 to take revenge on a person.^[2] Also in 1534, in Heywood's Play of Love, it was used of returning a feeling, especially love.^[2] Rarer uses followed for answering a question or a point in kind (1548–1847), returning a greeting (1590–1620) and returning a visit (1614–1648).^[2] Johnson (1755) defined it as "to repay; to retaliate good or ill; to recompense", quoting 1 Samuel for "he hath requited me evil for good".^[9] The noun, recorded from 1561, is frequent in the phrase in requite of,^[2] and the Shorter Oxford notes it as long Scottish and rare.^[13]

Timeline

• c. 1440 – to repay something owed; to make a fitting return for a service.^[2][8]
• 1529 – to retaliate for or avenge a wrong.^[2]
• 1530 – to repay or reward a person.^[2]
• 1534 – to return a feeling, especially love; to take revenge on a person.^[2]
• before 1547 – to give or do in return.^[2]
• 1561 – noun, requital, compensation.^[2]
• 1579 – derivative noun requital.^[3]
• before 1613 – to make up or compensate for (obsolete by 1697).^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. To repay or reward a person, or to make a fitting return for a kindness or service: She requited their help with a generous gift.^[7][14][2]
2. To retaliate for or avenge a wrong, or to pay someone back for an injury.^[14][2]
3. To return a feeling, especially love: His devotion was never requited.^[2][13]
4. (archaic) To give or do something in return.^[14][2]
5. (obsolete, before 1613–1697) To take the place of or make up for something.^[2][13]

Noun

1. (rare) Requital, compensation.^[2][13]

Word family

• requitable
• requiter
• requitement
• unrequited
• unrequiting
• requital
• unrequitable

Related words

• quit
• quite
• quiet
• acquit

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
5. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
6. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
8. ^ 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)
9. ^ a b Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
10. ^ a b c Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
11. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
12. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
13. ^ 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
14. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster