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Repaid

verbPaid back money that was borrowed or owed, or returned a favour or kindness.

How to spell repaid

repaid

6 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce repaid

American pronunciation
ree-PAYD
/riˈpeɪd/

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does repaid mean?

  1. verbPaid back money that was borrowed or owed, or returned a favour or kindness.

Repaid in a sentence

Voice

Where does repaid come from?

Language of origin: French

This is the past tense and past participle of 'repay', built from the prefix re-, meaning 'back' or 'again', joined to 'pay'. The verb 'pay' came into English through Old French 'paier', which descended from the Latin 'pacare', meaning 'to pacify' or 'to satisfy'; that in turn grew from 'pax', the Latin word for 'peace'. The original idea was that handing over money 'pacified' or settled a creditor, bringing peace to a debt. Like 'pay' itself, 'repay' keeps the irregular past form 'paid' rather than the regular 'payed', and this is exactly the spelling trap: writers who add a regular -ed produce the wrong 'repayed'. The single -aid spelling has been standard since the verb 'pay' settled into English in the medieval period.

How the word is built

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