Etymograph

English

repentant

Repentant comes from Old French repentant, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *peh₁- ‘to hate, hurt’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*peh₁-1‘to hate, hurt’root named by Wiktionary · steps between not traced
  2. Old Frenchc. 842–1400repentant1
  3. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500repentant1
  4. Englishearliest quotation 2013repentant1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English repentant
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 2013, Valorie Cunningham, Choices: “I cannot believe that God wants us to kill…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*peh₁-Wiktionary, English repentant‘to hate, hurt’root named by Wiktionary · steps between not traced
  2. Old Frenchc. 842–1400repentantWiktionary, English repentant
  3. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500repentantWiktionary, English repentant
  4. Englishearliest quotation 2013repentantWiktionary, English repentant. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 2013, Valorie Cunningham, Choices: “I cannot believe that God wants us to kill…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *peh₁- ‘to hate, hurt’

patient, passionate, passive, patience, compatible, compassion, fend, fiend, penitentiary, penance, penitent, penitence, 10 more

Today it means

adj Feeling or showing sorrow for wrongdoing.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “repentant”. 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- / repentant

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