English
reprieve
Reprieve comes from Middle English repryen ‘to remand, detain’.
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
- 1 Wiktionary, English reprieve
- Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1692–1717, Robert South, Twelve Sermons Preached upon Several Occasions: “Company […] may reprieve a man from his melancholy,…”.
Earlier history uncertain. See Wiktionary.
Lineage
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500repryenWiktionary, English reprieve‘to remand, detain’
- Englishearliest quotation 1692–1717reprieveWiktionary, English reprieve. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1692–1717, Robert South, Twelve Sermons Preached upon Several Occasions: “Company […] may reprieve a man from his melancholy,…”
The story
First use appears c. 1513 in the writings of Robert Fabyan. The sense has become generalized, but does retain connotations of punishment and execution. The noun's first use appears c. 1592.
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *gʰed- ‘to find’
yet, guess, surprise, prison, prize, comprehensive, prey, apprentice, comprehend, predator, comprehension, comprise, apprehension, apprehend, apprehensive, predation, reprehensible, beget, impregnable, impresario, prehensile, 32 more
Today it means
verb To cancel or postpone the punishment of someone, especially an execution.
Sources
Sources: Wiktionary, “reprieve”. 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 / Middle English repryen / reprieve