respite

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English respit,^[2][3][4] borrowed from Anglo-Norman respit, also respiit,^[5] the Anglo-Norman and Old French word for a delay or extension of time,^[5][6][3] now répit.^[5][6][7] That is from Latin respectus (“regard, consideration; a looking back”),^{[5][6][8][9][10]} the noun use of the past participle of respiciō (“to look back at, regard, consider”),^[6][11] formed from re- (“back”) and speciō (“to look at”), from Proto-Indo-European *spek- (“to observe”).^[6] The Anglo-Norman noun is recorded from 1113–19.^[12] The word is thus a doublet of respect, its later learned form.^[5][3][6] The verb is inherited from Middle English respiten,^[2][4] borrowed from Anglo-Norman respiter and Old French respitier,^[5][2][6] from respectō (“to look back repeatedly, wait for, respect”),^[5][4][10] which in Medieval Latin also meant to delay or postpone.^[4][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

An agreed delay or extension of time, especially one allowed for further thought about a matter: about 1300, in the life of St Laurence in the South English Legendary.^[5] Barnhart dates the noun to about 1250,^[2][3] Etymonline to the mid-13th century,^[6] and Dictionary.com to 1200–50.^[11]

Semantic evolution

The Anglo-Norman word already covered regard, delay, a reprieve, a truce and the deferral of a payment, and also meant a moral story or a proverb, a sense English did not take over.^[12][5] In English the sense of a delay or postponement came first; from about 1330 the word also meant a rest or relief from something tiring or unpleasant, the main sense today.^[5][6][10] By the late 15th century it was used of the suspension of a death sentence,^[5] and Johnson (1755) gave "reprieve; suspension of a capital sentence" as its first meaning.^[13] For a time the word also meant respect or regard, by association with respect or its French source, a sense that died out in the 15th century;^[5] Weekley notes that respect in turn was common in the sense of respite in the 16th century.^[14] Specialised uses followed: the postponement of feudal homage by a small payment to the Exchequer (1541), and in the army a sum held back from the pay of a soldier absent from muster (1663).^[5] In the United States from 1964, respite came to mean temporary relief for the usual carer of a sick, elderly or disabled person, provided as a service.^[5] In Cornwall the verb was used for remitting a tax.^[15]

Timeline

• c. 1300 – an agreed delay or extension of time.^[5]
• c. 1330 – temporary rest or relief; also the verb, to reprieve a condemned person.^[5]
• before 1382 – respect, regard (obsolete by 1475).^[5]
• before 1393 – verb, to delay a sentence or punishment.^[5]
• before 1475 – the suspension or commutation of a death sentence.^[5]
• 1541 – the postponement of feudal homage by a payment.^[5]
• 1663 – military: a sum withheld from an absent soldier's pay.^[5]
• 1964 – relief for the carer of a sick or disabled person, originally in the US.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. A short period of rest or relief from work, effort or something unpleasant: The rain gave the firefighters a brief respite.^[16][4][5]
2. A temporary delay or postponement.^[16][4][5]
3. A temporary stay of execution; a reprieve.^[16][5][13]
4. Short-term care that gives the usual carer of a sick, elderly or disabled person a break.^[5]

Verb

1. To grant a respite to; to reprieve.^[16][4][5]
2. To delay or postpone a sentence, punishment or obligation.^[4][5][7]

Word family

• respiteless
• unrespited

Related words

• respect
• spectacle
• inspect
• suspect

Usage notes

Merriam-Webster gives /ˈre-spət/ as the usual American pronunciation and notes that British speakers usually say /ˈre-ˌspīt/.^[4] According to the OED, forms with a long and a short vowel in the second syllable both existed in English from an early date.^[5]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
3. ^ a b c d Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
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 28 29 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
9. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
11. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
12. ^ a b Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
13. ^ 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.
14. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
15. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
16. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins