Vocabulary Workout: How Many 'Rep's? Quiz

Answer: repair

When something is damaged, either through accident or the effects of age, it can often be repaired and restored to something approximating its original condition. The word comes from the Latin verb 'reparare', meaning to put back in order: 're-' means again, and 'parare' means to prepare.

In the 16th century the term is recorded in a metaphorical sense, describing a restoration of a relationship that has been damaged in some way. This in turn led to the noun reparation, describing the action of making amends.

As a verb, to repair can also mean to go to a specified place, although the usage is rather archaic. Shakespearean characters may have repaired to another room. Dictionary definitions of this usage commonly use the equally quaint-sounding betake to describe the action. The word repair in this sense comes from the Latin word 'repatriare', meaning to go back to one's own country; this is also the source of the English repatriate.

Answer: repartee

The name Oscar Wilde springs immediately to mind when the word repartee is bandied around - his plays are full of examples. We actually get the word from a French word used in fencing to describe a blow made in response to one from one's opponent, 'repartie'. The term came into use during the 17th century, although then often spelled reparty.

Answer: repast

A repast can be almost any type of meal, from a light collation to a sumptuous feast. As is so often the case, the word was adopted into English (sometime around the 14th century) from French, with Latin origins - and is therefore related to similar words in other Romance languages.

In this case, the Latin 'repascare' is formed from 're-', meaning again, and 'pascare', meaning to graze. In Late Latin the past participle of this verb, 'repastus', was used to denote the meal itself.

Answer: repeal

One use of this verb would be familiar to most Americans - the 21st Amendment to the Constitution repealed the 18th Amendment, prohibiting sale of alcohol, and the Prohibition Era (1919-1933) was ended. This was the first time that a constitutional amendment was made purely to repeal an earlier amendment.

The linguistic root of repeal is French; Old French 'rapeler' (literally meaning to call back) became Anglo-French 'repeler' in the 14th century, and then evolved into the modern term.

Answer: repel

You may remember high school science classes in which two magnets were brought together with their matching poles (both North or both South) closest to each other, and you could feel how they pushed each other apart - "like poles repel" is the phrase you were probably told to write down as your observation.

In the 15th century the word was used to literally describe the act of preventing an incursion by a hostile force, a meaning directly from its Latin origin 'repellere', meaning to drive back. Later on it gained a figurative sense, and is recorded as used in the early 19th century to describe a sense of aversion or distaste being provoked by a situation or person.

Answer: repent

One who repents their actions has realised that they should not have performed those acts, and usually seeks a way to make amends. One can also repent what one has not done, if it is clear that the action not undertaken should have been done. ("If only I had told him I loved him despite our disagreements," is a sentiment often expressed after the sudden death of a family member, for example.) It includes both a sense of regret and a positive intention to avoid a future repetition, and is often used in the context of seeking forgiveness.

Someone who repents can be described as penitent or repentant., more words that come from the Latin 'poenitire', meaning to make sorry.

Answer: repercussion

This is only one of the definitions for a repercussion. It can also, although archaically, be applied to what we would now call a recoil, such as happens when a pistol is shot. It also means an echoing reverberation, as in the production of sound in a percussion instrument.

Then there is the medical diagnostic technique of tapping a body part such as the chest and listening for the internal response. This all relates to the concept of driving back with force (Latin 're-' and 'percutere'). That sense of repercussion appeared by the early 15th century, while the reverbatory sense was seen by the 1590s, and that of unintended consequences in the 1620s.

Answer: replete

After a repast, one may announce that they are comfortably replete (or alternatively repent having eaten past the point of repletion). This is yet another word with a direct Latin root: 're-' is used as an intensifier to indicate more, rather than repetition, in the word 'repletus', meaning full.

The related word repletion suggests over-consumption, generally of food or liquid refreshment, but the adjective does not necessarily apply to food. A murder mystery, for example, can be described as being replete with suspects.

Answer: replica

Technically, at least originally, a replica was a duplicate made by the original artist, described by the Italian word 'replica', meaning copy, and derived from the word 'replicare', meaning to duplicate. By the middle of the 19th century it came to mean any copy, and now is usually used to describe an imitation of an original item, not necessarily a work of art. Sometimes museums put replicas of fragile items on display, so people can see something that is indistinguishable (to the naked eye) from the original. And replicas make great souvenirs!

Answer: repose

The noun is a back-formation from the verb which means to lie at rest, and entered English as reposen in the middle of the15th century. The direct source was French 'reposer', from Old French 'repauser' and Late Latin 'repausare', all meaning to come to rest. A figurative sense indicating a state of tranquility rather than actual sleep developed by the middle of the 17th century.

Edouard Manet's 1871 painting 'Repose' shows his sister-in-law Berthe Morisot semi-reclined on a sofa behind which is a Japanese-style painting full of activity. The artist stated that this was not a portrait, but a study in physical and psychological calm.

Answer: reprieve

The most common context in which this term is heard is in relation to the execution of a prisoner, in those countries where there is still a death penalty. When the execution is delayed or changed to some other penalty, the prisoner is said to have been given a reprieve. It can also be used metaphorically to indicate that some activity that was being anticipated with negative emotion has been avoided: Aunt Edna not coming for the family Christmas dinner meant everyone felt a sense of reprieve from listening to her criticism of 'young people these days'.

Reprieve evolved from the 16th century word reprive, meaning to take back to prison. In turn, this traces roots through French ('repris' means taken back). By 1600 it was attached to the sense of a stay of execution, probably because being sent back to prison was the alternative.

Answer: reprimand

Parents may rebuke their errant children, the headmaster reprimands them if they break school rules. A reprimand is delivered from a person or group in authority, and usually carries some related sanction.

Let's follow this word forwards etymologically, instead of tracing it back. The Latin verb 'reprimere' means to hold back or restrain. Its gerundive (adjectival form of a verb), 'reprimendus', is applied to something that is to be held back. The feminine form 'reprimenda' was used in the phrases 'reprimenda culpa' (fault to be restrained) and 'reprimenda res' (thing to be repressed). This became used in French as 'reprimende' then (by the 16th century) 'réprimande', both meaning reproof. Reprimand first appeared in English around 1630, and developed into a verb around 1680.

Answer: reptile

The Latin word meaning to crawl or creep is the source of reptile, and the word was used in English by the late 14th century to refer to any animal that moved on its belly or using short legs. It was also used figuratively to describe someone of an abject character.

It was not until the middle of the 18th century that the scientific term came into use, as scientists were constructing classification systems for plants and animals based on similarities of structure and function. At that time it included both reptiles and amphibians; in 1836 Reptilia and Amphibia were established as distinct classes of animals.

Answer: repugnant

Something that is repugnant can also be described as repulsive or repellant. A repugnant person might also be described as reprehensible. So many 'Rep' words!

The modern meaning of repugnant can be found in use by the late 18th century. Before that, it was used in a sense closer to its Latin root, 'repugnare', which means to fight back, be hostile, disagree. 'Repugnaunt' appeared in English in the early 15th century to describe something that was inconsistent or contradictory. This then came to be applied to someone who displayed stubborn resistance. The first recorded use to mean distasteful was in 1777.

Answer: reputation

Your reputation refers to the opinion others hold of you - either in terms of character or of accomplishment in some field. In the 14th century, reputacioun was used to mean esteem, a positive opinion being held; later it came to be used more generally without the necessity of it being a positive opinion.

The Latin root is a verb meaning to think over, suggesting that people form their opinions after thinking over the evidence of your words and actions. It is also applied to social entities such as businesses and governments. Someone or something with a good reputation is said to be reputable; a disreputable entity might be said to be in ill repute.