repay

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɹiˈpeɪ/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪ

Etymology 1

From Old French repaier (“to pay back”), from re- + paiier (“to pay”), from Latin pācāre (“to settle, to make peaceful”), from pāx (“peace”) + -ō (“forming verbs”). Equivalent to re- +‎ pay. Cognate with repacify and French repayer (“to pay again”).

Verb

repay (third-person singular simple present repays, present participle repaying, simple past and past participle repaid)

1. Synonym of pay back in all senses.

   I finally repaid my student loans, just before sending my kids to college.

   • 1707, Isaac Watts, “Godly Sorrow ariſing from the Sufferings of Chriſt”, in Hymns and Spiritual Songs, London: J. Humfreys, page 86:

     But drops of Grief can ne’re repay / The debt of Love I owe, […]

   • 1962 April, “Talking of Trains: Short-sighted approach to profits?”, in Modern Railways, page 219:

     On the results of the Kent Coast electrification, which is known to be repaying so far a satisfactory return on the investment in it, a Waterloo-Bournemouth scheme shows reasonable financial promise.

2. (transitive) To make worthwhile; to yield a result worth the effort; to pay off.
   • 2013, M. Pavone-MacAluso, Testicular Cancer and Other Tumors of the Genitourinary Tract, page 517:

     The possible importance of excessive androgen secretion and the ingestion of agents such as the fluorenamines may repay further investigation.

3. (transitive) To give in return; requite.

Derived terms

• repayment

Etymology 2

Verb

repay (third-person singular simple present repays, present participle repaying, simple past and past participle repayed or repaid)

1. (nautical) To pay (cover with tar, pitch, etc.) again.

Anagrams

• Payer, Peary, apery, payer, peary, praye, rapey