Requite
/rɪˈkwaɪt/noun
To repay or return something, especially a favor, injury, or feeling.
Did you know?Requite comes from Old English roots meaning to repay or compensate, and its older sense could cover both gifts and revenge—language once treated payment and payback as the same force.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Indo-European
PIE
*kweid-
“to repay, requite, compensate”
Proto-Germanic
PGmc
*kwidōną
“to say in return, repay”
Old English
OE
cwitan
“to repay, recompense”
Middle English
ME
requiten
“to repay, return, avenge”
Modern English
English
requite
“to repay or return, especially a favor, injury, or feeling”