Etymograph

English

repair

Repair comes from Middle English repairen, from Middle French reparer, from Latin reparō ‘to renew, repair’, from parō.

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEparō1‘to prepare’
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEreparō2‘to renew, repair’
  3. Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600reparer2
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500repairen2
  5. Englishearliest quotation c. 1603–1606repair2

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Latin reparo
  2. 2 Wiktionary, English repair
  3. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1603–1606, William Shakespeare, The Tragedie of King Lear: “I'll repair the misery thou dost bear.”.

Lineage

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEparōWiktionary, Latin reparo‘to prepare’
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEreparōWiktionary, English repair‘to renew, repair’
  3. Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600reparerWiktionary, English repair
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500repairenWiktionary, English repair
  5. Englishearliest quotation c. 1603–1606repairWiktionary, English repair. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1603–1606, William Shakespeare, The Tragedie of King Lear: “I'll repair the misery thou dost bear.”

The story

Coined between 1300 and 1350 from Middle English repairen, from Middle French reparer, from Latin reparō (‘renew, repair’).

Full etymology on Wiktionary

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *perh₃- ‘to grant’

part, expert, experiment, para, parcel, parental, parity, 43 more

through Latin parō ‘prepare, provide’

several, separate, emperor, imperial, empire, preparation, separation, apparatus, parachute, apparel, empress, severance, disparate, preparatory, inseparable, imperium, imperious, separator, rampart, imperator, pare, separable, 15 more

through Latin reparō ‘renew, repair’

reparation, 1 more

Another origin of repair

  1. Late Latinc. 200–600 CEpatria‘homeland’
  2. Late Latinc. 200–600 CErepatriare‘to return to one's country’
  3. Old Frenchc. 842–1400repairier‘to go home’
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500repairen‘to return’
  5. Englishtodayrepair

Today it means

verb To restore to good working order, fix, or improve damaged condition; to mend; to remedy.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “repair”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Latin reparo. 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 / Latin parō / repair

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