Etymology Explorer › English

Where does “payback” come from?

Payback derives from English pay plus back, with pay coming from French payer, Latin pacare meaning "to appease or satisfy," ultimately from Proto-Indo-European gʷémtis.

payback (English): An act of revenge; A benefit, reward, a form of...

Definitions

  1. An act of revenge; A benefit, reward, a form of...

Ancestry of “payback”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Englishpay backto pay an amount of money owed to another, to...
Every word from English pay back →