English
repel
Repel comes from Latin repellere ‘to drive back’, and goes back to pellō.
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEpellōas pellere‘to drive’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CErepellere‘to drive back’
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400*repellerreconstructed
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500repellen
- Englishearliest quotation 1624repel
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
Earlier history uncertain.
Lineage
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEpellōas pellere‘to drive’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CErepellere‘to drive back’
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400*repellerreconstructed
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500repellen
- Englishearliest quotation 1624repel
Earliest quotation: 1624, Democritus Junior pseudonym; Robert Burt, The Anatomy of Melancholy: […]: “It is some satisfaction to him that is repelled,…”
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *pel- ‘to drive, strike, thrust’
film, simple, simply, push, felt, filter, powder, complain, fold, pillow, flaw, pollen, palate, palpable, palladium, palatable, pall, wallow, polemic, tuple, pollinate, palatal, peloton, muffle, apoplexy, pulver, palp, pillion, interpolate, peplum, 62 more
through Proto-Italic *pelnō ‘to approach’
through Latin pellō ‘to drive’
appeal, pulse, compulsory, propulsion, expulsion, compulsive, repeal, appellate, compel, expel, propel, dispel, pelt, impel, rappel, 16 more
Today it means
verb To turn (someone) away from a privilege, right, job, etc.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Latin pellō / repel