Repay

Part of speech: verb

Pronunciation: /ɹiˈpeɪ/

Definitions

1. To give back money that was borrowed or to return a favor or kindness received from someone
2. To restore funds that were previously lent or to reciprocate acts of generosity or goodwill offered by another individual
3. To return borrowed money to a lender or to compensate someone for a kindness they showed previously

Etymology: The verb "repay" carries a hidden idea of peace. Its distant ancestor is Latin "pācāre", meaning "to settle" or "to make peaceful", built on "pāx", "peace". The Latin verb took the sense of pacifying a person, and in Vulgar Latin it came to mean settling a debt, which is the sense that passed into Old French as "paiier", "to pay". Pay, in other words, was originally about calming a creditor and bringing a dispute to rest. English then added the prefix "re-", "back" or "again", to the existing "pay", producing the sense of paying back money owed. The French "repaier", meaning "to pay back", was the immediate model for the English formation, and the same pattern gave French "repayer", "to pay again". Both languages therefore built their word for returning money on the same foundation: a payment that restores the peace after a debt.

Synonyms: reimburse, refund, repay, compensate, recoup

Antonyms: default, fail, deny, neglect, forgive