repentance
/ɹɪˈpentəns/rih-PEN-tuhns
/ɹɪˈpɛntəns/rih-PEN-tuhns
Meaningthe state of feeling sorry
Common meaning: regret for wrongdoing
- reagain; back
- pena penalty, punishmentLewis & Short, Latin Dictionary (1879), p. 1390 · scan
- tpast-participle ending
- ancenoun ending: doing, or the condition that results
‘again’ + ‘a penalty, punishment’ → repentance
Journey through time
- Latinpoena‘a penalty, punishment’
- Frenchrepentir
- Middle Englishrepentensource
- Englishrepent‘to feel regret for a wrong’
- Englishformed in English from repentrepentance‘regret for wrongdoing’ · today
Sources & notes
Meaning: “Meaning” is the sense that emerges from the word’s roots; “Common meaning” is today’s everyday sense. Both written by us.
Pronunciation
- UK IPA: converted from the US form by rule (unchecked). Respelling: generated.
- No UK recording; the speaker uses your device’s en-GB voice.
- US IPA: CMUdict (BSD-2), converted to IPA by rule. Respelling: generated.
- No US recording; the speaker uses your device’s en-US voice.
Origin: Formed in English from repent + -ance.
Dictionary: Skeat (1898), REPENT, p.502 · scan
Roots
- poena Latin “a penalty, punishment”
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