English
penance
Penance comes from Old French peneance, from Latin paenitentia ‘repentance, penitence’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *peh₁- ‘to hate, hurt’.
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*peh₁-1‘to hate, hurt’root named by Wiktionary
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEpaeniteō2‘regret, repent’
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEpaenitēns2‘repenting’present active participle of paeniteō
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEpaenitentia1‘repentance, penitence’
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400peneance1
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500penaunce1
- Englishearliest quotation 1797–1798penance1
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
- 1 Wiktionary, English penance
- 2 Wiktionary, Latin paenitentia
- Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1797–1798, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, The Rime of the Ancyent Marinere: “Quoth he, "The man hath penance done, / And…”.
Lineage
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*peh₁-Wiktionary, English penance‘to hate, hurt’root named by Wiktionary
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEpaeniteōWiktionary, Latin paenitentia‘regret, repent’
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEpaenitēnsWiktionary, Latin paenitentia‘repenting’present active participle of paeniteō
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEpaenitentiaWiktionary, English penance‘repentance, penitence’
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400peneanceWiktionary, English penance
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500penaunceWiktionary, English penance
- Englishearliest quotation 1797–1798penanceWiktionary, English penance. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1797–1798, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, The Rime of the Ancyent Marinere: “Quoth he, "The man hath penance done, / And…”
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *peh₁- ‘to hate, hurt’
patient, passive, compatible, compassion, passionate, patience, fend, fiend, repentance, repentant, 7 more
through Latin paeniteō ‘regret, repent’
through Latin paenitēns ‘repenting’
through Latin paenitentia ‘repentance, penitence’
Today it means
noun A voluntary self-imposed punishment for a sinful act or wrongdoing. It may be intended to serve as reparation for the act.
Sources
Sources: Wiktionary, “penance”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Latin paenitentia. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.
Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *peh₁- / penance